Much more than in many other industries, printers often enjoy relationships with colleagues that extend well beyond the workplace. Which means remaining impartial and objective, and not being influenced by whichever employee happens to be flavour of the month socially, can be particularly tricky.

Stuart Hyland, UK head of reward consulting at global management consulting company Hay Group, recalls how his father, who was a printer for 30 years, could rarely go shopping without bumping into around half a dozen people he knew and worked with. And there always seemed to be someone from work around the house in the evenings.

"Printing is a very close-knit and sociable community and there’s a real challenge in working out what part of the relationship relates to work and what part relates to social activity," he says.

"Just because someone happens to be a mate outside of work it doesn’t mean you can favour them, so it can be very difficult when you have to make tough calls about pay and promotion.

"So if you’re doing the interviewing and you know one candidate well, but not the others, then it can be advisable to declare the fact that you are likely to be biased and to get someone else to do the interviewing as there is always a risk that you could either over or under compensate."

A further problem arises from the fact that many printing companies are often small family businesses and therefore have only limited promotion opportunities, with family members likely to be given preference on the promotion ladder.

Simon Baddeley, senior regional director at Reed Specialist Recruitment, says: "If you’re honest that you are grooming your son or daughter to take over, it’s rarely a problem morale-wise, but you need to be realistic as it could result in people leaving to look for other opportunities. You would certainly expect to see a higher staff turnover in a small family printing business than you would in a large blue chip.

"As long as you are honest about lack of promotion prospects, putting together other offerings, such as a training plan or decent employee benefits package, can counteract the problem. There may not be the opportunity to actually promote someone to a new role but you can still award pay rises and offer other benefits. You can also offer flexible working hours, which can be highly valued. Not everyone wants promotion and some may prefer a decent work/life balance."  

Flexible approach
But while promotion is clearly a very important and sensitive issue in the printing industry, most experts stress that this does not necessarily mean that printers should draw up structured promotion plans. These tend to be more applicable to very target-driven fields, like sales and banking, where promotion is directly related to income generation.

Indeed, Emma Edis, solicitor in the employment practice at law firm Moore Blatch, feels that having such a promotion policy could actually cause more problems than it solves because having to comply with it can reduce your options.

She says: "Flexibility with promotion is very important as someone might do well in a short period of time. Instead of having a policy, make sure you have recorded reasons for why promotions are actually given and, before they are given, make it quite clear what criteria you are using so that you can justify the decision. You don’t have to advertise the position externally, but doing so can help avoid indirect discrimination by enabling you to choose from a bigger pool of applicants, therefore avoiding any suggestion of favouritism."

Although there is no specific legislation governing promotion, other legislation has a definite impact, particularly with regard to discrimination. The Equality Act 2010 applies to organisations of all sizes and structures and could require a company found to have taken factors such as race or gender into consideration when meting out promotions to compensate unsuccessful candidates. The compensation payments, which have no upper limit, would be for the financial loss resulting from the difference between their current salary and the salary they would have been eligible for had they been given that promotion for as long as that difference would likely to have been maintained.

BPIF chief executive Kathy Woodward says: "There have been many high-profile cases where individuals who have claimed that their career progression has been impacted have gone on to bring discrimination cases. There was a famous case in the print industry when a group of female finishing operatives brought and won sex discrimination claims because they had not been selected to be forklift-truck drivers.

"This isn’t an area to make mistakes in. If you lose a tribunal on discrimination, not only will you have a hefty award against you, customers are increasingly looking at your ethical behaviour and asking about your track record on equal opportunities. So it’s really important that your managers and team leaders know that this can be a minefield and have the training to handle what might seem a very simple decision, but has a host of complex implications."

Woodward stresses that issues surrounding promotion should be covered in a print firm’s equal opportunities policy and that managers and team leaders should understand the legal, motivational and commercial risks of not applying fair and visible processes to all aspects of selection, including project and overtime opportunities.

Employers must ensure that any criteria or practices applied don’t inadvertently discriminate against certain groups. For example, care must be taken to ensure that part-time workers are able to apply for vacancies, because there is always a chance that they might want to switch to working on a full-time basis. Similarly, make sure no one is excluded because they happen to be on holiday at the time, and don’t assume everyone reads everything on notice boards. Make a point of mentioning vacancies at relevant meetings.

Documentary evidence
Experts recommend keeping documentation to help demonstrate that decisions are fair, transparent and based on merit. This should include notes from interviews and it can also be a good idea to put a paragraph or two on file explaining the thought process behind the decision.

This can also act as a check against poor decisions – if the decision-maker finds themselves struggling to come up with good reasons for promoting someone, then perhaps they need to have a bit of a rethink.

Geoffrey Mead, partner at law firm Eversheds, says: "Management can just decide who is the best candidate without interviews, but this is legally risky as someone else could accuse you of discrimination as a result of them being black, female or disabled. Even nepotism could in theory result in a racial discrimination claim if the son is white and the other two candidates are black.

"You are in a better position if you have gone through a formal interviewing process and can show there are good reasons for your decision and, although it can’t completely eliminate the risk of a discrimination claim, it very much reduces it.

"If people are denied the opportunity of even applying for a vacancy they may argue it demonstrated a lack of trust in their abilities and they could even claim constructive dismissal. It’s pretty unlikely, but it can’t be ruled out.

"But these things can be hard to prove and I haven’t come across many discrimination cases on promotion that have succeeded. Damage to morale is, in my opinion, a bigger issue. People might feel they haven’t been fairly treated and might leave as a result."

One important way of minimising damage to morale is to explain to unsuccessful candidates the rationale behind why they weren’t promoted so that they understand the decision, although you shouldn’t disclose confidential information.

Hay Group’s Hyland says: "One of the worst things in the world is to see someone else get the job you wanted when you didn’t even know the decision had been taken, and it can result in unsuccessful candidates leaving. If they receive a proper explanation, they are less likely to react negatively and if the newly promoted person is managing them, are less likely to give them a hard time."

The Chartered Institute of Personnel & Development (CIPD) also warns against making decisions too quickly, because a role urgently needs filling. This can lead to a decision not being based on evidence of current performance and future potential. Additionally, it highlights the dangers of promoting technical experts to management roles that might not be their strength or preference.

Claire McCartney, CIPD adviser, resourcing and talent planning, offers these words of wisdom: "Promoting someone into a role that they don’t have the ability to do will also impact on their engagement and potentially that of their colleagues and team. Organisations should therefore strive to adhere to clear and rigorous processes when it comes to selection and promotions, to improve work and working lives for all concerned."

PROMOTING FAIRLY

Advertising a promotion opportunity
It can be tempting, particularly in a small organisation, to just mete out promotions as and when it is beneficial to the company to do so, and when people have proved their worth and earned them. But this can be a dangerous strategy. Try to approach the process not as a bonus, ad hoc role created for a specific individual, but a formally considered and created position. In this way, approaching promotion in a similar way to recruiting is a good rule of thumb. So:

• You absolutely must ensure every worker is aware of the promotion opportunity.
• Think very carefully about how you’re advertising the opportunity. Ensure it’s mentioned at relevant meetings as well as posted on notice boards.
• Ensure that part-time workers are aware of the opportunity even if it’s a full-time position. Just assuming they would never consider going full-time may lay you open to discrimination claims. Similarly, make sure the period of time the opportunity is advertised for is lengthy enough that those on holiday hear about it and have enough time to express their interest. Remember that letting as many people as possible in your organisation know about an opportunity and what’s involved won’t just ward against accusations of discrimination and against disgruntled employees, but also may mean you increase the number of suitable applicants you get to choose from.
• You must not deny a woman promotion opportunities because she is pregnant or on maternity leave. If a woman is on maternity leave, she must be considered for promotion in the same way as any other worker who is not on leave. To avoid unlawful discrimination, you should give such employees the opportunity to apply for any promotion they would have been told about had they been at work.
• You don’t have to advertise a promotion opportunity externally but doing so can help avoid accusations of discrimination.

Making your decision
Again, approach this process very much as you would do an external recruitment process:

• Consider using a job description and person specification and other more ‘formal’ processes like an application form. This makes it more likely you’ll get the right person for the job and can also help you avoid tribunal claims.
• If you decide to use a job description and person specification, make it clear what the job involves and the skills, qualifications and experience you are looking for. As with any job advertisement, write in plain language. Make it clear what the person who gets the job will be doing. Unless understanding special words is a necessary part of the job, avoid unnecessary tasks or overstated responsibilities or jargon, acronyms and abbreviations, which may exclude people who don’t understand what they mean.
• Consider holding interviews for prospective candidates even if you feel sure of who you would like to promote. This will allow you to think about your employees’ characteristics in a more objective light, particularly crucial where they may be a family member or good friend.
• Keep detailed documentation on why a certain decision has been made, including notes from any interviews. Putting this information down in writing will force you again to consider the promotion objectively and should highlight, if you’re struggling to quantify the decision, where the promotion might not be as justified as it at first seemed.
• If an immediate promotion is absolutely necessary, make this temporary and then fill the post permanently, and openly, through the organisation’s normal recruitment or promotion procedures.
• Explain to all unsuccessful candidates why you made the decision you did, using the notes you’ve made. This will hopefully ward against bad morale, giving people clear targets to work towards if they’re to be promoted in future. It will also ensure the newly promoted employee feels comfortable in their new role and able to direct others.

Promotion in print
A problem facing the print industry is that most companies are relatively small so with limited promotion opportunities. Many are also family firms, so extra care is needed to avoid accusations of nepotism. So:

• Be honest about lack of promotion opportunities, managing expectations about this from the very start of someone joining the firm.
• Remember not everyone wants the extra pressure and responsibility that promotion brings. Colleagues who feel obliged to apply for promotions are likely to feel just as disgruntled as those who feel they’ve been unfairly overlooked, so proceed with care when encouraging people to apply.
• Remember that a change in job title is by no means the only recognition people are after. To many, pay rises to reflect length of service, and other benefits such as flexible working which allows for a good work/life balance, will be just as, if not more, important.
• Structured promotion plans will be more usefully deployed in target-driven fields such as sales and banking. For smaller companies with less of an incentive to tie promotion so closely to revenue generation, greater flexibility will be key. Having too rigid a structure in place risks promoting people before they’re ready to take on more responsibility or holding back bright sparks who could be contributing even more to the company if given more responsibility and formal recognition.
• Printers quite understandably aren’t always experts on HR. But it’s crucial all managers and team leaders are aware of potential promotion pitfalls, and receive training to help them navigate this potentially fraught and complicated area.

What the law says

• There is no specific legislation governing promotion but The Equality Act 2010 is the key piece of legislation to bear in mind here. This act states that you must not treat a worker worse than another because of a protected characteristic (this is called direct discrimination). These protected characteristics are: age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, sex and sexual orientation. Nepotism could also trigger an unlawful discrimination case, where the relative who is promoted is white and the other candidates are black or Asian, for example.
• To protect themselves from claims of discrimination printers should set out issues surrounding promotion in the firm’s equal opportunities policy.
• Be aware of the danger of constructive dismissal claims. It is vital all employees get the opportunity to apply for a newly created more senior position, otherwise they could claim they were effectively shunted out through being denied opportunities.

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