How Clear Pathways to Promotion Will Reduce Turnover in Your Company

Episode 052

Ben Walters: [00:00:00] Ben with SuperPumped Business podcast. One of the biggest disconnects in most businesses that I see is this idea of pathways to promotion. In businesses, most people in the C-Suite, the executive suite, and particularly in HR, think that they have a clear process for how an employee would go from wherever they start in your organization to move up through the ranks. But the reality is when you talk to the managers of those employees or the specific employees, they have no idea how to get from where they're going.

Ben Walters: So one of the things you wanna do, if you want to retain those really high-achieving employees, or even just above average people, and not lose 'em to a competitor, is create pathways to promotion, that next step in their career.

Ben Walters: So the first thing you wanna do, if you wanna create pathways to promotion, you wanna teach specific skills. So you wanna say, hey employee Joe, I know you're here right now, but [00:01:00] if you wanna get to the next level, here are the skills you need to acquire. These are some retrainings you can do, we got a quarterly in service on that or we've got a conference you can go to or maybe there's some computer-based training. You can complete these modules and we'll have you primed for that next step. 

Ben Walters: The other thing is you can do coaching, so that's a really big one. A lot of times there's a heart for people to move up, but they have no idea how to do it. They need someone to help them, which also leads to mentors. Mentors are critical, particularly for certain disadvantaged groups. Having those mentors within your business is gonna pay huge dividends.

Ben Walters: At MIT, the Sloan School has done tons of work on this topic, and one of the things they found, 63% of workers who left their company in 2023 did so because they saw no pathway to promotion.

Ben Walters: Everybody in HR, everybody in the executive suite and the leadership's like, yeah, yeah. We got promotional paths. But the reality [00:02:00] is the employees don't see it. It wasn't operationalized for them. It has to be drilled down.

Ben Walters: The other thing they found was, if it's DIY, it's never going to get done. Employees are struggling, particularly at the lower ends, with just all the aspects of the job and life and, kind of, what's going on. You've really got to spell it out: here are the steps you need to take to be considered for the next promotion.

Ben Walters: Then the third thing you've gotta do, you can talk all day about pathways to promotion, but if every time there's an open position you go outside the organization to fill that, do you know what that does to your existing employees? It completely devalues them and they start polishing up their resume.

Ben Walters: You want to promote from within. That is critical. You want the good workers that you have [00:03:00] to take it to the next level with you, and that really encourages everybody. 'Cause if this person gets promoted up to here, then somebody backfills their position, so they're getting promoted and then somebody down the line even further is getting promoted, so it begins to lift everybody up.

Ben Walters: Now, one question I'm asked is, okay, that sounds great. Let's promote from within. What happens if you have two or three different applicants within your existing structure and you give it to candidate A, they get promoted, and candidate B and C are still where they're at.

Ben Walters: Communication is critical in this, and this is why coaching and mentors are a part of this process. So if you picked employee A for that promotion within, you need to tell employee B and employee C, hey, listen, you didn't get it this time. And then you double back. But if you'd work a little harder on acquiring these skills that A actually went and got, then you're going to be there the next time. 

Ben Walters: The other thing is, [00:04:00] and we saw this in our cleaning business in particular, let's say we had a large crew at a big account, right? And we promoted employee A to shift lead or maybe the whole crew leader, right? And employee B and C are like, now I'm stuck A's just got that promotion.

Ben Walters: But you can cross within your company. So we would say to B and C, hey, you're not quite there. We need to work on this and this, but we have $2 million out there in bids and proposals right now. And we see a role where, if we land those, which we are confident, we are going to, we are gonna be able to plug you in if you add these skills.

Ben Walters: If you wanna keep your best employees, if retention is important to you, if slaying the turnover dragon is important to you in saving all that money and building a better company, promote from within and build pathways to promotion, and if you do that, you are going to have a happier, more productive and more profitable workplace.

Ben Walters: Thanks for joining me today. I hope you have a [00:05:00] SuperPumped day. If you need more resources, go on over to superpumped.com or hit me up, book an appointment, let's talk about your particular company. Let's dig in and let's figure this thing out. See you next time.

Ben Walters: If you enjoyed today's show, I have two quick next steps for you. First, subscribe or follow us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or YouTube. And second, jump on over to superpumped.com to find out all the incredible ways we can help you launch your SuperPumped Business.

Ben Walters: Keep well and I'll see you next time.