Getting Promoted Often Leads to Jumping Ship, New Data Reveal

livemint.com:

Some workers are celebrating their promotions by walking out the door. Promotions are typically considered milestones that solidify an employee’s place at a company. That is not always the case, new research shows.

A large number of employees leave soon after their first promotion, according to new data from payroll-services provider ADP. Analyzing the job histories of more than 1.2 million U.S. workers between 2019 and 2022, the ADP Research Institute found that 29% of people quit their jobs within a month after their first promotion.

It estimates that the departure rate for similar workers who weren’t promoted was 18%. The ADP analysis examines the pandemic era of work, a period marked by a red-hot job market and a wave of workers’ quitting and finding new jobs. The findings suggest that promotions, rather than enticing workers to stay, sometimes signal a flight risk.

They show how challenging it has been for employers to retain workers, given one of the main tools they have to inspire loyalty doesn’t appear to always be so effective. Employees jump ship after promotions for a host of reasons, recruiters and hiring managers say. The weeks and months after a promotion are critical to ensuring newly promoted employees are fulfilled and supported in their new roles, says Nela Richardson, ADP’s chief economist, and sometimes companies fall short on providing the training and assistance they need.

A promotion can also give a worker the confidence to seek a better job somewhere else. “You think there’d be this euphoria and commitment," after a promotion, Richardson says. Instead, “people are thinking, ‘What is the next step?’ " People working jobs that require little to no training, such as warehouse or hospitality workers,