The Most Recent Undervalued Employee Buzzword: Dry Promotion

Every year, we find a new buzzword about how employees feel underappreciated and undervalued. This year, it is “dry promotion.”

We’ve all heard about “quiet quitting,” “the great resignation,” “quiet firing,” and “toxic workplace.” There are so many more words that describe employee and leadership trends that have perhaps gone too far.

Why all the trendy buzzwords like “dry promotion”?

Sometimes, labeling an experience brings a problem to light. Whether from a leader’s perspective or an employee’s perspective, these buzzy terms illustrate a level of frustration about company culture.

Companies need to pivot quickly in times of market shifts or when supply chains change because of a disaster (like the ship hitting the Key Bridge in Baltimore). The need for special skills and reallocated funds makes it hard to make promises. Sometimes, it is necessary to ask someone with special skills to step up without an immediate pay raise—aka give them a dry promotion.

When you have a healthy culture built on trust, communication, and transparency, then that employee with special skills is happy to step into a new role. They know that when the company gets realigned, they will make the compensation make sense for their new role. If your organization lacks a healthy foundation, it’s inevitable that employees will push back.

The problem beneath the problem

The good news about buzzwords, like dry promotion, is that they are a clear description of an underlying problem within an organization. The bad news is that if you’re hearing them within your company, you have a problem that has gone unaddressed for too long.

All businesses experience ebbs and flows—it’s inevitable in a dynamic marketplace. Establishing open communication channels can preempt or help you quickly get your arms around a problem and find the right remedy. If you see or hear about people starting to check out (quiet quitting), you can avoid a talent drain or flight risk by addressing it directly, objectively, and appropriately.

How to fix it

As we repeatedly preach, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. When leaders need to change course, communicate the reasons behind it and what the plan is. However, leaders are human, and it can be difficult to react exactly the way employees need, particularly if the change is unanticipated.

What will help is providing skills and tools before they are needed. As leaders grow within your organization, as well as those who are already at the top, understanding different tactics and strategies before they are needed will help. Muscle memory runs deep, and if a manager made different communication skills or behaviors part of their work style early, it will have a lasting positive impact. Done right, employees will see a dry promotion as it was likely intended, a commitment to the company.

Leaning on a leadership expert for individual coaching or group training can empower your leaders and enable your organization to stay on strategy. Liddell Consulting Group has been working with leaders and leadership for more than 20 years. We can help identify what is at the heart of the issues that are holding your organization back. Contact us to schedule a call to discuss your leadership needs and how we can help.