Transfers & Promotions

It is important that your organisation has a good policy in regard to transfers and promotions.

The policy must have a clear, fair and transparent process that applies to all employees within the organisation.

A transfer requires employees to change the work group, workplace or unit. The transfer may be to relocate the employee to a different geographic region.
The transfer of an employee to another job must see that it is equal to or better than the previous job. Otherwise it may be considered unfavourably by the employee as a demotion. This could lead to the employee lodging a personal grievance on the grounds of demotion.

A promotion is a change of job to a higher level within the organisation. The promotion policy within an organisation again, must be clear, fair and have a transparent process that applies to all employees within the organisation to comply with the principle of natural justice.

The policy should also clear state the criteria for promotion, criteria for salary progression or scale structures. If creating a new promotion policy, you may need to check the criteria for promotion and salary progression is not apart of a collective employment agreement negotiated by the union.

Promotions can help an organisation as it shows the organisation values its employees by giving them opportunity to enhance their career opportunites through promotion. Therefore, increasing employee loyalty, retention and reducing employee turnover for the organisation.

Relevant Related Websites:

Department of Labour