Now, about that promotion… A new study found that a promotion can actually increase the risk of an employee quitting. ADP, the payroll services company, analyzed the job histories of more than 1.2 million people from 2019 to 2022. Using factors such as managerial level, job requirements and months since hire, the study found that 29% of employees left their companies within a month of receiving their first promotion. Moreover, according to the study, only 18% of those employees would have left had they not been promoted. Put another way, a promotion led to a 67% increase in the chances an employee would leave the company.

According to industry experts, a promotion improves an employee's marketability. At the same time, during the pandemic, many employees took on added responsibilities with no increase in pay. In a recent rewards and benefits study undertaken for a client, Korn Ferry found that employees viewed being promoted with no accompanying increase in pay as “borderline negative,” says Maria Amato, global leader of the Employee Experience and EVP Solutions practice at Korn Ferry.

ADP concluded that another factor behind the departures is that by the time the employer gets around to issuing a promotion, the affected employee is ready to move on. According to the ADP study, only 4.5% of employees are promoted within two years of being hired.

Promotions, according to Bradford Frank, senior client partner in the Global Technology practice at Korn Ferry, are often a function of a manager’s “realizing someone is looking to leave and that they can’t afford to lose them, so they promote them as a way to keep them.”

Looking for career advice? Happi Columnist Dave Jensen brings it every month. Read: Managing Your Career. 

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