You never miss a deadline, you come in early to work and leave late, you do not attend to personal phone calls during work hours, are extremely committed to your job and your clients love you, but did you get a promotion yet? If yes, how soon did you get it? What took you so long to get the much deserved promotion package that you expect?
These questions help you arrive at one juncture to understand, how do employers decide if an employee is promotion ready or not? According to a recent study by CareerBuilder, it sheds light on the physical and behavioural factors that impact employees’ career advancement prospects with an organisation.
The physical factors could be attributed to lack of dressing etiquette; a provocative clothing line and unprofessional haircut or dishevelled appearance can make employers think twice if you are worth the promotion to be offered. Do you possess the much needed mannerisms as expected of a leader to inspire, engage and motivate workforce?
Also exhibiting behaviours such as negative attitude towards work or gossiping about colleagues or consistently arriving late reflect on your commitment towards the job and unknowingly this reduces your chances of being considered for a promotion or immediate salary hike.
You may be an excellent professional but the physical and behaviour attributes that form a part of your overall personality, reflects on how you are being perceived by your employer and colleagues at work. This helps bosses decide if a hardworking and smart employee deserves promotion or not. Factors that employers bear on mind when promoting employees are:
Physical appearance on how you present yourself at work helps employers decide if you represent the organisation cultural feel. Like sporting wrinkled clothes, shabby appearance (no time for personal grooming), piercings and tattoos, ostentatious facial hair and unprofessional hair cut, bad breath, heavy perfume or cologne and too much make up, are some factors that help employers arrive at a decision when considering promotion.
See: HR Nightmare: Job Hopping is Normal for Millennials
Employee’s behaviour at work and relationship with co-workers helps employers decide if an employee deserves promotion. Poor, negative or pessimistic attitude towards work, consistent tardiness and regularly showing up late to work or leaving early, too many sick leaves, use of vulgar language, gossiping, investing long productive hours into social media accounts, often taking breaks for coffee or smoke, are indicators of employee’s inclination to perform on job.
When an employer consistently notices lack of inclination towards work with no adherence to timelines, then such cases need second thought when deciding promotion.
“In addition to on-the-job accomplishments, employers also take attitude, behaviour and appearance into consideration when deciding who deserves to move up in the ranks,” said Rosemary Haefner, chief human resources officer at CareerBuilder. “While your work performance may be strong, if you’re not presenting yourself in a professional manner, it may be preventing your superiors from taking you seriously.”
The next time, you start taking things on a lighter note on job; do remember that your boss is on a close vigil and keeping a watch on your activities, only with a noble intent to reward you better for the talent and skill sets you possess.
Do not get negative if you’re under the lenses of a boss, might be there is an underlying promotion plan on his mind. Never jump to conclusions or perceive things in a negative light, a bit of optimism can help you garner success and reap long term profitable dividends in your career path.
Also read: Majority of fresh grads and mid-career professionals expect promotion within two years: Survey
