Job promotion is an important milestone of achievement in one’s career. As feelings of trust and security grow during the tenure of workings, the employees are more convinced to stay back and perform to attain standards par excellence in the business. A promotion announcement well-delivered by the HR manager can elevate the motivation levels and employee engagement at work. In other words, announcing promotion is one of the best approaches by which an employer can show appreciation towards an employee’s contribution. 

Importance of Promotion

Employees are motivated to be top performers in their job role driven by their desire to advance, adopt a position of leadership, and earn better compensation. When employees show their worth, they will be rewarded with higher responsibility, authoritative decision-making, leadership positions, salary raises, and other advantages. Promotion not only provides a financially-profitable opportunity for the employee to pursue a bright future with the company, but it also provides the assurance that their efforts will not go unnoticed by the employer. 

When employees are aware that their consistent efforts and hard work will be rewarded in future, they tend to focus and perform consistently. In promoting an employee, HR managers and employers should stay off favouritism and subjective performance grading. If the promotion planning is not well executed and pre-planned, it can impact employee performance, motivation levels at work and promote turnover of talents.

Means of Announcing a Promotion

Ahead of a formal company-wide announcement, those most directly affected by the job role change should be notified. This includes team members, managers, and direct supervisors, so they can help ensure a streamlined process inside the company. If you work in a smaller business, you might want to deliver the news during a company-wide meeting where everyone is present. Because it is intimate and personal, this style of celebration makes everyone in the team feel like valued members of the company. 

As much as informal notification may be more direct and takes less effort, formal promotion announcement is still required. After all, promotion will affect your organizational structure, despite only one or a few individuals getting the promotion. One of the most common ways of formally announcing promotion to the whole company is through sending email as notification. Another way of doing this is through a press release on the company’s website, which is usually done for the C-level position.

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When drafting a promotion announcement, provide a brief explanation of the employee’s previous and new positions, as well as any noteworthy achievements throughout their time with the company. To get a better insight on this, here are some steps to take in drafting a promotion announcement.

1 . Keep it professional

Employers should be able to keep the positive tone and professionalism intact, during and post promotion announcement. While it is completely okay to express congratulations to the promoted employee during the announcement, keep in mind that this is a professional statement, not a personal text. When drafting promotion announcements, a decent rule of thumb is to be celebratory without being overwhelmingly so. 

2 . Showcase an objective assessment

Focusing on an employee’s achievement, contribution and hard work is great, however managers need to ensure that during the process they are not hurting the morale of other staff. An employee’s work history, qualifications, experience and achievements are crucial things to evaluate performance objectively. There should be clear reasons on why an employee is considered to be an exceptional star performer at work, and why the organisation chooses to promote the individual. Clear explanations should be provided to all employees during staff meetings to avoid negativity, distrust and ill feelings among employees.

3 . Milestones to Highlight 

Highlighting on some incredible accomplishments, great efforts on certain projects, and willingness to take up additional job roles beyond their scope of operations are some pluses which should be presented right, during the promotion announcement. You can also mention specific contributions and dedication showcased by an employee, such that this can be a model and provide inspiration for the rest of the employees to follow the pathways to success.

4 . Stress on the importance of teamwork support

Employees should realise that each one’s contribution is associated with their final progress to promote a culture of integrated supportive teamwork. Promotion of an employee is a positive indicator of the growth vision within an organization, while voicing out that everybody in the workforce stands a fair chance to gain from it.

Employers should spread cheer, positive energy and affirm that they are really waiting for the next top performers in the team. To uplift spirits, boost productivity and enhance employee morale, promotion is a key driver to empower the workforces to deliver their best efforts every single day at work. However, only when a promotion announcement is delivered right, will the workforces be empowered to perform, improve their skills and be retained. 

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