Inverse Promotions (cont.)

By F. John Reh

Job Vacancy Indonesia, Employee, Vacancy

Inverse Promotion
The solution is easy to see, but difficult to do. An individual who has been promoted beyond their level of competence is unhappy, is doing a poor job, is costing the company money, and is hindering the development of others. The employee needs to be returned to the level at which they were a great employee. Usually, that is the position, or at least the level, from which they were promoted.
Companies are reluctant to demote people because of the potential liability in doing so. Most managers, who would have to do the demotions, lack the skill and training to do it well. Certainly they lack the desire to do it.
The employee doesn't want to seek out the demotion, for a variety of reasons. And if the employee is demoted, their ego is bruised and they probably will quit and walk out.
The fact remains that moving the employee downward is the appropriate thing to do. The company gains through increased production and innovation. The employee gains from an increased job satisfaction. So the management challenge is to make the change is such a way that they employee can accept the change.
Employee Resistance Points
Typical employees will resist the inverse promotion for two reasons, ego and money. The successful manager will help them deal with both issues.
The ego issues can be addressed by discussing with the employee the success he or she had in the previous position and how much they enjoyed it. The manager should stress how valuable the employee was in that position and how valuable the company expects they will be again. The employee should be transferred to a different unit, not just back into the one from which they came, whenever this is possible. They should be given time to think about the change, not just have it sprung on them as it is about to happen. This will allow them to consider the potential value in the new position and to develop coping strategies.
The money issues should be a non-issue.
Usually there is enough overlap between the pay scales of the two positions that the employee returned to the lower position would still be within the upper end of the pay scale for that position. However, even if they are outside the pay scale, they should be left at their current higher salary. This will also help somewhat with the ego issues.
Rather than cutting the employee's pay, leave them at that pay level until the pay scale for the lower level increases over time and reaches where they are. Be sure to tell them that that will happen. Inform them that their pay won't be cut, but that they won't get any raises until they are back in line with others in that function. While this may seem like an extra cost for the company, consider the alternative. The employees resentment over a pay cut, coupled with the ego damage of the demotion, may cause the employee to resign. The cost of finding, hiring and training a replacement will seriously exceed the cost of leaving them at their present salary.
It Won't Work For Everyone
The larger a company is, the more likely it will be able to find a suitable position into which to move someone being inversely promoted. They will have more divisions and a larger number of positions at the level to which the individual is being moved. A large multi-national conglomerate is more likely to be able to find a suitable supervisor position for a former manager than is an eight person manufacturing company.
In addition, people are not equally likely to accept the change. Some will have more emotional and ego issues than others and be unable to accept the change, even if it is handled considerately and with no change in pay.
Some companies will have union agreements or employment contracts that will prohibit or restrict these kinds of changes.
It Is The Smart Thing to Do
Smart companies, and smart employees, will take advantage of the potential benefits of an inverse promotion rather than a termination or a resignation. It saves the company money. It increases the productivity of the entire workforce. It removes barriers to promotion for qualified individuals. And it removes incompetence from the structure. Smart people will recognize the cost savings of not having to look for another job. They will seize the new opportunities to learn. They will enjoy their work again.
Manage This Issue
You have to find and remove those things that hamper your business as it competes. Incompetence is a major handicap. When found, it needs to be removed. However, like all these things, it needs to be done in the most cost-effective manner. In this case the most cost-effective first step is to plan and then offer an inverse promotion.
For those who don't believe our society will ever accept the concept of demotions by another name, or who are unwilling to wait for this kind of business practice to become more widely accepted, there are other alternatives. Next we will look at performance management approaches. The article after next, we will look at how to shift the entire hierarchical paradigm.