A New Quiet Trend: Quiet Promotion

Move aside quiet quitting and quiet firing, there's a new quiet trend at the workplace and you might be part of it already without realising: Quiet promotion! Which is the whole point of quiet promotion – where you are being given more work and responsibilities without a promotion or a pay raise to match.

Sounds like something you’re going through? This is the reality at many offices and it’s not something new at all. Ask around and you’ll realise that a lot of people are doing extra work without a reward or feeling like they are undercompensated for the work they do.

How do you recognise quiet promotion? Here are a few examples:

• Being asked to do work outside of your job description
• Taking on more work after a colleague leaves the company and until HR finds someone suitable
• Having an increase in workload because of a new project
• Being asked to take on an interim role but not being given a pay raise
• Your boss literally telling you that you need to lean in and help the team

What’s challenging about quiet promotion is that your effort can often be side lined. So much so that when you are ready for an actual promotion, your boss doesn’t see that you’ve done much to deserve that promotion because you’re already doing it currently so why the need for a higher-level role?

Here’s another thing, when you realise that you’re taking on more than your actual job description, your most common reaction is to not say anything but to just do it. Oftentimes, we feel the need to go above and beyond to first, keep our jobs (no thanks to the pandemic!) and second, to prove that we have what it takes. If you have a supportive manager, great – all your effort will be noticed. But if your manager isn’t quite as supportive, you might just end up doing all that for nothing. This can lead to you feeling being taken advantage of, which creates a toxic work experience. And we all know that’s not ideal for motivation or career success!

But don’t fret – there’s a flipside to quiet promotions! Believe it or not, you can turn your quiet promotion into a real promotion. Here’s the reasoning: When you are already going above and beyond the role you already have, you are essentially proving to your manager that you have what it takes to take on the next level. Willingly taking on that extra workload can work in your favour in that you have actual evidence that you have what it takes for the next step. Plus, all that extra work is a great way to develop new skills and gain more experience before you hit that next level of a new title. And when you do get promoted – well, you already know what to anticipate because you’re already doing it all!

Just make sure you know how to use quiet promotions to your advantage though – that’s being clever about it. Document everything. Keep track of the work you’ve done that’s both within and outside of your original job description. Take note of the results – this way you can be specific about your capabilities taking on the new responsibilities. If anything, it’s a great way to support your performance review.

Also, when you want to ask for that actual promotion, time your request properly. Don’t do it mid projects, you’ll have nothing to show! Finish the extra work you’ve been given, collect the results, then schedule in an appointment with your employer to talk about making it official. But of course, if you’re being asked to take on more work because the company has just laid people off, you’d want to wait for a while until things settle before going in with your evidence on why you need to be promoted.

Have you ever experienced quiet promotion? Tell us all about it on Twitter @Graduan.

Photo by Luis Villasmil on Unsplash.