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The top three reasons for not promoting an employee

Have you recently denied a promotion to an employee? You're not alone - a new research by Robert Half found that 39% of Singapore's business leaders have done so in the past three years.

The top reason for denying a promotion was a lack of leadership potential, as cited by 53% of the 225 business leaders in Singapore surveyed. A lack of experience (45%) and lack of soft skills (39%) rounded up the top three.

Other reasons include lack of technical skills (36%) and the availability of a more qualified internal (26%) or external candidate (9%).

Awarding promotions are akin to acknowledging hard work and offering a vote of confidence in working style and strategic capabilities. In that line, denying one may lead to decreased morale and dwindling motivation.

To keep employees motivated after denying a promotion, Singapore business leaders have implemented several measures, with letting employees work within a different team (52%) being the most common.

About half (48%) have allowed them to shadow other employees while 41% gave the employee a unique project to work on. Other measures include delegating responsibilities (34%), calling for their input in challenging situations (26%) and providing training opportunities (20%).

Matthieu Imbert-Bouchard, Managing Director of Robert Half Singapore, said: "When candidates fail to secure a promotion, it is likely they will get demotivated, making it all the more important for businesses to take measures to ensure unsuccessful candidates don’t experience a loss of enthusiasm and decreased confidence in their professional abilities. Involving team members in new projects and offering additional responsibilities are both solid examples of how to keep staff engaged and motivated, especially after having been denied a promotion."

Photo / 123RF

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