One of the criteria they want to use in assessing whether or not to offer promotion is the ‘flight-risk’ of the employee, and the impact it would have on the business if they left. Do you see any issues with this?
Your client has identified a particularly useful retention tool that employers can use: the opportunity for progression and development. Ambitious employees will move onto to other organisations if not offered the chance internally to grow and develop themselves, and their skillset, and introducing a hierarchy in an otherwise flat structure is a logical way of doing this. However, your client will need to act carefully in how they administrate this.
In the recent case of Sunderland v Superdry, similar criteria were used in assessing staff, a well as grading of employee’s potential and performance. In that case, the employer was found to have discriminated against the employee on grounds of age, by using a ‘flight risk’ assessment that was based on management conjecture, and likely to act against the interests of older employees.
Your client can learn an important lesson from this case. It is essential when they are considering which of the employees to offer a promotion to, that they use criteria that is fair, balanced, and free of discrimination.
Using an assessment such as flight risk, which attempts to measure the risk of the employee leaving the business, and how much of an impact that would have, is fraught with risk, as any measurement of it is purely subjective, and therefore hard to evidence. It also fails to prevent bias, unconscious or otherwise, from creeping in, as it can be tempting to think that an older employee, perhaps reaching the later stages of their working life, would not want the hassle of finding alternative employment. This cannot, and should not, be based on an assumption made by a manager.
Your client might instead consider putting in place a more balanced assessment of promotion prospects, by looking at the skills and attributes they need from the senior post, and how they might measure those in their employees. Having clear criteria, such as management experience, designing across different products, and managing a diverse workload, is more tangible and easier to measure, and gives employees something they can work on in their current role, by taking on additional responsibilities and stretching themselves.
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