Are your employees like Barbie? Thinking they’re growing until they realise they’ve been quietly promoted.

Your workers may be waiting for the next appraisal for all the extra work they’ve done in the year. They may have been taking on loads of extra work without any change in job title or salary, but they seem confident they will reap the rewards and that managers will undoubtedly see their efforts. Perhaps, they are like Barbie in the latest movie’s dystopian plastic-girl world.  

 They believe they will get the results. In a perfect workplace, that should be the case, right? But those rewards come late or never at all without some active involvement. Barbie, your workers, then discover the reality of an imperfect world, which comes with disenchantment, lack of motivation and feeling unvalued or even manipulated. 

 It turns out many employees experience what’s been coined a ‘quiet promotion.’ After the pandemic time, the buzzword ‘quiet resignation’ quickly became widespread. But this new term and trend are emerging, seeing workers left behind taking on more responsibilities and an increased workload beyond their job description.  

And it’s more common than you may think. For example, according to a survey by JobSage, 78% of American workers have gone through a quiet promotion. More importantly, many, 57% of them, feel like they’re being manipulated or taken advantage of by their employers.  

The tell-tale signs that disarm the enchantment 

Quite promotions are a sign of a disconnection between employers and employees. Perhaps the situation stems from overwhelmed and busy managers, poor planning of resources and talent or merely a lack of communication.  

 Here are some things for these tell-tale signs: 

1. Managers ask workers to handle tasks that are way above their pay grade. 
2. Employees end up with more work than their colleagues who have the same job title. 
3. They find themselves doing the work that a co-worker originally did with a higher position. 
4.  They take on additional tasks after others have left or been let go, essentially filling 2 roles. 

Keeping employees blissfully unaware is not a solution.  

On many occasions, quiet promotion comes as the result of layoffs and talent shortages. Yet, quiet promotion may damage even more the problem they were trying to solve in the first instance. Ignoring it puts companies at risk of losing even more talent.  

The JobSage survey found that most employees, an incredible 78%, will likely pick up the slack quietly – but only for some time. Quiet promotion may be a solution at first, but it will create more significant issues if left unresolved for long periods.  

 Here are some of the long-term symptoms: 

• Toxic culture. Employees feel unvalued, dissatisfaction runs high, and respect is not at the top of the priority list as demonstrated with unrecognised workload increase. A good company culture is hard to be maintain in such environment. You’re more likely to find less collaboration between co-workers that may be competing against others.  
• Resentment. If 57% of employees feel misled or taken advantage by superiors, resentment is bound to happen.  Most employees want to get a promotion and move up the corporate ladder with a new title and salary boost. However, resentment brews when management gives you more work and responsibilities without a pay increase or title change. In the JobSage survey, 68 percent of respondents noticed they had more work than others with the same title, and 57 percent felt misled or taken advantage of by superiors. 
• Low productivity. Quiet promotions usually target a low productivity issue, and it may seem to initially boost it but as the situation becomes chronic the team losses steam.  Worker’s motivation is low as they realise their hard work has little or no results in their career progression or pockets.  
• Bad reputation. Treat employees unfairly and word of mouth will soon run wild. Quiet promotions not only risk your current employees but your ability to attract new talent. Picture this: those unhappy, loyal workers leave the workplace after a long-running period of stagnation and workload increase, and you’re unable to replace them because of your bad reputation.  

Is your company aware of the situation? Have you surveyed your staff tasks to see if they match the original role? 

Ok, you still need to give your employees more responsibility. Do it right. 

Staff want to grow in their roles so they can make the next step up. A clear plan of how taking on extra tasks and responsibilities should be jointly set out. The JobSage survey found that 63% of companies would suffer if employees refused to be quietly promoted. It is, then, more important than ever to retain the great talent that can hold the foundations of your organisation but hasn’t been rewarded for it.  

Compensate employees in alternative ways 

A salary increase isn’t always the only way to compensate. Compensation doesn’t always mean a salary increase. You may offer employee benefits, and more flexible options to accommodate the extra hours and work so that they can balance their time outside work.  

Pick your leadership carefully. 

Your company leaders are key to avoiding quiet promotions. True leaders will recruit talented employees and make sure they stay and grow. The wrong person in charge may achieve just the opposite. Alienate the team and find shortcuts to obtain the same results in the short term, steering your business in the wrong direction.  

Make sure your employees’ expectations align with yours. 

In an ideal world, employers should reward, promote and empower the work of employees that have seen their workload and responsibilities increase. But there may be times when you need to make adjustments without promotions. If this is the case, be transparent about the situation, ensure employees are aware the situation is temporary – and stick to your timeframes and plans. 

If the situation becomes permanent, you need to compensate, reward and promote your employees.  

While keeping employees blissfully unaware in Barbie’s world may be tempting, the spell will eventually fade. If your workers are performing far better than they are compensated, make sure you keep that invaluable, loyal talent in your organisation for longer. Think that if they are already performing beyond their job remit with no compensation, how much more could they offer if they were recognised, rewarded and compensated for it? 

The cost to replace staff in a time of talent crisis is higher than ever. Letting go of your most valuable, talented and loyal workers only benefits competition. Contact Kelly experts – we are here to support you on the way to attracting the best talent. Talk to Kelly Life Sciences in your country today. We will be glad to share our knowledge and experience!