NFIB

Employee Reviews Can Help Decide Promotions
03/ 28/ 2002

Large corporations routinely review employees at all levels, often to locate people to promote to managerial levels. With so many employees, structured reviews are often the only fair way to promote people. Because of their size, small businesses have a huge advantage in finding internal managers since the owners often know their employees personally.

Structured reviews are also important to small businesses. If you need to fill a management position and want to promote internally, structured reviews may help alleviate some of the stress of deciding which employee to choose. In today's Workshop, Jeffrey Moses explains how consistent review procedures can help in deciding who to promote.

When searching internally for managers, large corporations often rate their employees on various skills required for the particular management position. Such skills might include verbal ability, analytical ability, flexibility, creativity, interpersonal skills, leadership qualities and business experience.

Small businesses can use a similar rating system, if the owner or senior managers of a small company compose an extensive list of skills required for a specific management position. Employees being considered for the position could be rated in each skill category. The ratings, of course, would be subjective, based upon knowledge of the employee by existing management.

Comparing results of different employees' scores could help you decide which employee should fill the position. While there are other important factors in such a decision, such as personality and work ethic, these reviews will help highlight the ones to choose from.

Small Business Sound Off
Does this story hit home?  Share your story with us