A promotion is the advancement of an employee's rank, salary, duties and/or designation within an organization. Promotions are often a result of good employee performance and/or loyalty (usually via seniority). The opposite of a promotion is a demotion.
The Role of Human Resources
Prior to promoting someone, the human resources department of an organization must ascertain whether the employee in question can manage the increase in responsibilities that accompanies the new role. If not, additional training may be required to prepare the individual for their new organizational role.
Incentives of Being Promoted
Internal promotions carry incentives that motivate employee efficacy and ambition. Human resources can manage internal promotional opportunities and benefits to increase employee engagement. A promotion might involve a higher designation. This means that the more senior position has a different title. An example would be a promotion from office manager to regional manager. A promotion can (and often does) mean an increase in salary. The amount of the raise varies widely from industry to industry and from organization to organization within a given industry.
Promotions can also carry increases in benefits, privileges, and prestige, although in some cases only the title changes. In very hierarchical organizations, like the military, the change in rank alone is significant and brings with it new responsibilities. In the nonprofit sector pay increases are modest, so the prestige of a promotion is one of its main benefits. In the private sector, promotion can include substantial salary increases, benefit increases, stock options, and various "perks," such as a bigger office or executive parking.
Safeguards and Systematic Equity
Generally speaking, there are more procedural safeguards against preferential treatment in the public sector as compared with the private sector, where senior managers enjoy broad discretion in making promotions. Review of promotion decisions and mandates to document such decisions in personnel files protect against discrimination, bias, and preferential treatment. It is critical for human resources professionals to understand and describe why a given promotion is occurring, justifying it both quantitatively and qualitatively.