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Amy Leighton

Different Types of Job Promotions

Updated: Jun 26, 2023

Company employees get excited about the possibility of a job promotion. In fact, it’s one of the reasons they work so hard to impress management at their companies. People like to experience growth in their lives and at work, and getting promoted is one way to demonstrate that. But, did you know there are different types of promotions? Here are four different examples of how employers promote their employees.


Vertical promotion. When people think of promotions, this is what is most commonly considered. Being promoted vertically means an upward projection, such as making the move from administrative

assistant to office manager. It brings with it an increase in salary, job title, and possibly even benefits.

Vertical promotion can also take place outside the original nature of a job. For example, your promotion could be from administrative assistant to marketing manager if you’ve demonstrated you have exceptional skills in that area through your everyday administrative tasks.


Horizontal promotion. A horizontal promotion involves having an employer offer you a pay increase but not much else in terms of responsibilities. It might involve as little as having “senior” added to your title (such as from editor to senior editor.) It’s basically an acknowledgement of what you’re already doing in your job, thereby not increasing your amount of responsibilities.


Dry promotion. The opposite of a horizontal promotion is a dry promotion. When employers promote

workers in this manner, the workers are given more responsibilities but no pay increase or additional

benefits. Obviously, this is the most unpopular kind of promotion among employees. An example of this might be when an employer asks you to manage a few co-workers or take on an additional task like managing the company’s incoming emails. However, rather than receiving more pay to do this, you might simply receive only a job title change.


Open vs closed promotion. When offered a promotion to a position that is available for anyone in the company to apply for, that is considered an open promotion. These are clearly more competitive in nature. A closed promotion is more restrictive. It usually involves a position where only you or a few other select co-workers are being considered for it. You might apply for this kind of position or find out about it indirectly as your managers look to fill gaps in labor within the company.


https://blog.vantagecircle.com/employee-promotion/


https://firsthand.co/blogs/work-relationships/4-types-of-employee-promotions-and-how-to-use-them-

to-boost-performance


https://hr.harvard.edu/job-changes

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