Business and IO Blog

Business policies to attract older workers

Jackeline Torres

A new article by SHRM highlights the increase in the older worker population. Businesses will need to consider the type of policies that can be implemented to attract and retain older workers. These policies will need to touch on areas like recruitment strategies (e.g., benefits packages), training and development opportunities (e.g., job enrichment), and work arrangements (e.g., flexibility about when and where work gets done). Taking time to review policies will help ensure that businesses manage their talent and expertise.

Performance Management: Technical and Management Skills

Jackeline Torres

HBR Article: “Research: Do People Really Get Promoted to Their Level of Incompetence?” (link)

Problem: Do workers eventually get promoted into positions that they are not suited for (also known as the Peter Principle)?

Approach: Authors used sales data from 214 firms to examine whether organizations promote salespeople who would make good managers vs those who made good sales.

Findings: 1) higher likelihood of  getting promoted with higher sales rank, 2) negative relationship between sales performance and manager performance, 3) predictors of actual manager quality were not emphasized by organizations

Discussion: Results demonstrate that top sales people may not necessarily be the best managers.

Practical performance management strategies for organizations: 1) promotions ≠ changes in responsibility, 2) using dual track career ladders, 3) identify managers and let them manage