What is a promotion and why is it so important?
A job promotion entails an employee’s advancement in a job position or title. A job promotion is usually granted due to an employee’s impressive work performance and their efforts to work toward universal company goals. Promotions usually come with an increase in salary and benefits as well as additional responsibilities and duties.
Promoting employees usually means you’re succeeding at scaling your business. Additionally, the opportunity for career advancement via job promotions fosters a motivating work environment with healthy competition. Ultimately, job promotions can contribute to improved employee loyalty and lower employee turnover.
By first recognizing and appreciating your employee’s achievements and then rewarding them with job advancement, you’re securing your employee’s interest in continuing to work and advance within your company.
In this article, we cover why you should send a promotion letter, what it should include and when to send it. We also provide two employee promotion letter templates, one formal and one casual.
What is a letter of promotion and why should you send one?
A promotion letter goes beyond simply saying congratulations and instead represents the formal exchange of communications between your company and the employee receiving the promotion.
A well-written job promotion letter protects both you and your employee by clarifying all the details of the new position such as salary rate, date of promotion, line of authority involved, etc. It acts as a permanent record of communications to be referenced if any confusion should arise.
Depending on the size and structure of your company, an employee promotion letter is usually written by a hiring manager or human resources manager speaking on behalf of the managers or owners. Whoever crafts the promotion letter should be careful to add personalized elements, especially if using a template.
It’s important to note that a promotion letter is not to be confused with a promotion announcement, which is an email or a verbal announcement of a specific employee promotion intended to inform all other employees in the company.
A job promotion letter is a direct line of communication between the company and the employee being promoted. Its function is to extend congratulations to the employee and outline all the formal details involved in the promotion.
What to include in an employee promotion letter
There are several ways to write a job promotion letter, and while we provide templates for you below, it’s always a good idea to personalize your letter so the employee feels they’re truly being recognized for their hard work. The best way to ensure this sentiment is to open and close your letter with a heartfelt congratulations.