Promote From Within

By Les Gore


Reap big benefits by rewarding your best performers.

Now that the economy and job market have rebounded, you might have to work harder to retain your top employees. After all, if you don't reward your best performers with new roles in the company, you could be at risk for greater staff turnover.

During times of low unemployment, employees can view job hopping as a quicker, easier path to career advancement. Yet most catalogers value loyalty, and the best growth opportunities often are internal, particularly among those companies that recognize the morale and productivity benefits of promoting from within.

And make no mistake about it: Promoting from within could be one of your best employee-retention strategies — up there with better compensation and benefits, tuition reimbursement, and competitive vacation and holiday policies. For the hundreds of direct marketers I speak to every year, promoting from within is a hot-button topic.

Many catalogers benefit by using cross-training as a key promoting-from-within tool. It could give you more flexibility in managing your people to get the job done. And if done right, it's good for your employees, too. They learn new skills and are exposed to more of how your business works, making them more valuable. Moreover, it also could combat worker boredom.

Catalog company L.L. Bean is known for cross-training its top performers and promoting from within. For example, the company's former chief merchandising officer began his career on the retail store's sales floor. He then went on to become a buyer, assistant product manager, senior product manager, director of product development, vice president of creative, senior vice president and general manager of men's business, chief merchandising officer and member of the board of directors. This, after a nearly 30-year career with the company.

If this is the type of career path you'd like to tout in order to attract talented employees, here are some tactics to try.

Define Competencies for Success

Clearly defining your business goals and objectives is a straightforward proposition. But defining your required job competencies often can be more difficult. Many catalogers haven't taken the time to clearly define the competencies required for an employee to be successful in a given job. Not only does this make it tough to assess the individual holding a specific position, it makes it more difficult to find a replacement than if you knew exactly what you were looking for.