I’ve heard time and again that young graduate hires want to be promoted fast (i.e. < 1 year). Failing to do so will result in them leaving. Logically speaking, this is an impossible task. No companies can afford to promote all their employees (let alone fresh grads) every year. So how can we resolve this issue?

Here’s my assumption – Employees (including the young ones) are not so hung up about getting promoted. Instead, what they want is a sense of progression. So, what better way to give a sense of progression by injecting “levelling up” mechanism into career advancement?

HOW IT WORKS?

Imagine Kenny, a fresh grad, is hired into Marketing. He starts off on records as a “Level 1” marketeer. Kenny is excited and does what is expected of him in the first month. His work raised his level to 2. As a reward, Kenny gets a free lunch with his manager.

He continues to work hard and by the third month, his level raises to 3. This time, he gets a free day off if he so chooses to use it. As the level increases, the expectations towards Kenny rises but he’s willing to take it because he can see his progress.

Has Kenny been promoted? No.

Does Kenny feel he has progressed? I’d say yes.

REALITY…

Granted, there are numerous challenge to this approach like how and who to measure effort needed to increase from one level to the next? Is it person specific or role specific? Will this run into legal matters? Are there enough rewards for each levelling up? And probably a hundred more questions.

BUT, I like to think that these are easier to resolve as compared to trying to promote every single talent in an organisation at break-neck speeds.

What do you think?