Two-thirds of professionals would prefer a promotion with no raise over a raise with no promotion in the New Year, a survey of headhunter firm Korn Ferry shows.
With many professionals working on their New Year’s resolution of career advancement in 2017, a new Korn Ferry survey has revealed most feel getting promoted outdoes having more money in their pocket.
In order to retain the best and the brightest, leaders need to put development and clear career pathing plans in place, not just for top leaders but for those across an organization.
Recognition Over Financial Rewards
The study of 1,200 professionals from around the world found that nearly two-thirds of respondents (63 percent) said they would prefer to get a promotion with no salary increase than a salary increase with no promotion.
«Study after study shows the incredible importance of recognition for one's contribution is a key driver in job satisfaction, while salary is rarely near the top,» said Dennis Baltzley, (pictured) Korn Ferry senior partner and the firm’s global head of leadership development.
However, according to the survey, many organizations are not doing an adequate job of creating clear advancement opportunities for professionals. More than half (56 percent) of respondents who did not get a promotion within the last 12 months cited “bottleneck or nowhere to go” as the main reason. Nearly one-fifth (19 percent) said office politics got in their way of moving up the ladder.
When And How to Ask For a Promotion
«The last thing any boss wants is to have an employee demand a promotion or lament that they were not chosen for a role,» said Peter Keseric, a managing consultant at Korn Ferry Futurestep. He added «Conversations should start early on and include details on the exact key performance indicators (KPIs) that need to be achieved to earn a promotion, and there should be regular meetings to ensure progress is being made.»
According to the Korn Ferry survey, when asked on average how long they should stay in a role before being promoted, the No. 1 response (38 percent) was 2-3 years. Interestingly, an aggressive 5 percent of respondents said they expect to be in a role for a year or less before being promoted.
