What do employers look for when promoting employees?

Most of us aspire towards getting promoted at work. While each of us might have different motivations, the key significance of a promotion is universally true for most (if not all) of us: it’s recognition of our performance and competence.It says that our contribution to the organisation is valued.

But what exactly do employers look for when promoting employees?

This was one of the questions posed to employers in the recent survey by JobStreet.com. Conducted in September 2016 amongst a total sample size of 10,389 employed individuals and 518 employers in Malaysia, Singapore, Hong Kong, Philippines, Thailand, Indonesia, and Vietnam, the study looked at job promotion trends and factors in those seven countries.

When asked to rate the top factors that determine an employee’s chances of promotion, all employers across the board voted for“good performance reviews”as the number 1 factor.“Leadership ability”,“having the right skills”and“exceptional work”were also included in the top factors for employers in those 7 Asian countries.

Interestingly enough, while a clear majority of employed individuals polled felt that“popularity with supervisors”played a key role in determining their promotion prospects, the employers surveyed didn’t share the sentiment.One might posit that the employers simply didn’t want to be seen as practicing favouritism, which seems common practice for businesses the world over.

In support of this, a survey by Georgetown University revealed that92% of senior business executives have seen favouritism factor into employee promotions, with 84% of them having witnessed favouritism in their own companies. About 25% of the polled executives also admitted to practicing favouritism themselves.

When asked whichjob specialisationshadreceived the highest number of promotions over the past 12 months, surveyed employers rated the top 10 as follows: