Employees want to advance at their job and progress their career paths. Andrew Miller, former CEO of Polycom, Inc., advises promoting the development of employees by offering consistent guidance with your organization for career progression. Miller presented us with a few tips about how workers should be promoted.

Set a Timeline

Within your organization, it is important that your employees understand what to expect in the coming years. Your company should be able to clarify to new hires and current employees why promotions are normally given and the standards they need to fulfill or surpass these expectations to achieve advancement.

Implement Performance Evaluation Plans

Advancing at work is important to your employees which is why developing and implementing performance evaluation plans is important. While developing these plans with each individual, it is important you understand what your employees’ career desires are. Once this information is provided the company should regularly meet with employees to discuss how they are meeting their goals, what the criteria are for being promoted, additional responsibilities that may be added to their plate, and continue the discussion about how they envision their future career.

Provide More Responsibility

An integral part of employee satisfaction and performance is achieved by providing your successful workers increased responsibilities and duties. This not only provides them the opportunity to continue exceeding your expectations, but it also leaves them feeling more fulfilled about their career advancements.

Reward Performance, not Tenure

A large mistake within any business structure is promoting solely based on seniority. Not only does this approach stifle motivation among your employees, but it can also cause resentment among newer employees. Instead, narrow in on who is performing best, exceeding the company’s expectations, and ambitious to do more. Merit-based promotions will provide your company with high-achieving employees looking to put in the extra effort because they know they will be recognized for it.

Build a Bench

As an organization striving to exceed goals and expectations, a focus should be placed on the base of your staff. It is more than likely that some of your employees will move onto other opportunities, which is why building a bench is important.

Imagine one of your leading executives putting in their termination letter. Now what? If you have a strong bench that is able to fill in these shoes, you may not have much to worry about. You can achieve this goal by hiring employees in whom you see a long-term potential. But you should also always be taking interviews and networking within your sector, as well. While you may have a strong team, there is always more room for additional players to add to the roster.