Promotion

Recruitment | Selection | Promotion | Training and Development | Redundancy | Retirement

Avoid having a minimum or maximum cut-off age for promotion.

Make your promotion opportunities open to all employees. Let your staff know that age is not a barrier and that they will not be regarded as ‘too young’ or ‘too old’.

Promote on the basis of performance that you can measure and potential that is demonstrated - rather than on age or length of service.

Indicators of good practice

• Your organisation has a written policy which explains how promotion decisions are made and in which age does not play a role.
• Employees are aware of and understand the policy on promotion and career development.
• Evaluation from appraisals/performance reviews informs decisions on whether to promote.
• There are people of different ages at different levels throughout the organisation.

Example 1

Jane is 51. She has been with the company for 8 years. Her work has always been good. She uses her initiative, takes responsibility for her decisions and makes sound judgements. She has shown that she has all the qualities needed to take on a more responsible job. When such a job becomes vacant, though, she is discouraged from applying. Her manager tells Jane that she is sure she could do the job, if it wasn’t for her age – she is ‘too old’. The culture of the firm is that if you do not hold the more responsible job by the time you are 45, it is too late.

For Jane, there is no point doing more than the minimum. She is clearly ‘past it’ as far as the firm is concerned and is unlikely to be able to develop her career further.

Example 2

John is 22. He has been with the company for 2 years. He is keen and interested. His work has been consistently good. He has shown that he manages people skilfully and is adept at getting the best out of them. He demonstrates sound judgement and takes responsibility for his own decisions. When a supervisory job becomes vacant, he is discouraged from applying. His manager tells John that he could do the job if it wasn’t for his age - he is ‘too young’. Besides, there are people in the team who are older and have been with the firm longer.

John knows whatever he does it will not be properly valued in this organisation, because his manager cannot see beyond his youth.

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