Dear Workforce
Q: Why Is It Important to Consider the Experience Gained by Someone in an Acting Capacity
Our organization's policy states: "Experience gained by an internal applicant during an acting assignment cannot be counted towards the experience requirement for the position." How common is this as a staffing practice, and are there instances where it would be considered fair or appropriate?
A:
Dear Internal Situation:
The ability to gain experience within a position is paramount to an employee's current and future job experience. In this way, a policy that limits experience from being "counted towards the experience requirement" for future positions inhibits the individual and your competitive advantage. When employees gain experience, they can significantly accelerate goals, mission, culture and overall success. Experience leverages opportunities for employees to achieve high-quality performance, and definitely needs to be taken into consideration in a number of ways, including:
Recruitment
When bringing aboard new employees, look for key experience needed for each position. Experience must be examined in behavioral terms, in which potential employees can clearly demonstrate specific actions related to a specific task.
Retention
Employees possess varying levels of motivation. Some might be motivated by money, others by prestige, and still others by having increasing responsibilities. The implication: To retain top-quality employees, you must provide them with new and different ways to apply their skills, knowledge and actions.
Promotion
An organization will seek to promote those employees who have achieved top performance. It is only through experience that employees will enhance their ability to be successful. The inclusion of experience within a promotion assessment ensures potential candidates are evaluated in true and meaningful ways.
Training
When employees seek out training, they build their skills and can improve their contribution to a company. It is the responsibility of the employee and the company to provide training that can add value to experience and have a significant impact on overall success.
Performance management
Employees will be evaluated based on their performance, which is an indication of their experience. When supervisors take a coaching approach with employees, they can build on strengths developed through employee experience and put those strengths into practice. The result is a win-win for everyone.
Succession planning
Companies that outperform their competition usually integrate succession planning within their overall enterprise. This means that as employees gain experience, they become well positioned for future opportunities. Those companies that have specific career tracks and work to place employees on those tracks think and act in the long term.
Employee engagement
The ability of employees to have their "game face" on daily is a direct representation of a company's employee engagement. Engagement exerts an impact on your bottom line, and is grounded by experience. As the collective experience grows, there tends to be a positive correlation with employee engagement.
SOURCE: Dana E. Jarvis, Duquesne University, Pittsburgh, November 26, 2008
LEARN MORE: Please see the Workforcearchive for more on the virtue of employee career development.
The information contained in this article is intended to provide useful information on the topic covered, but should not be construed as legal advice or a legal opinion. Also remember that state laws may differ from the federal law.
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