← HR Metrics·Performance & Development
Time to Promotion
Average time between promotions
How it’s computed
AVG(promotion_interval)
What the evidence shows
| Relates to | Effect (r) | N | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|
| Career satisfaction | 0.22 | 8701 | A |
| Voluntary turnover | -0.11 | 5752 | A |
What this metric can show you
Time to Promotion can tell roughly 23 pre-built stories — each a designed scene the data either confirms or it doesn’t. Bring your numbers and the Story Finder runs every one of these shapes against them.
specific to performance & development
It's two companies, split by manager
leadership-quality · T1
Most are fine — a tail is struggling
engagement · T1
The system isn't differentiating
measurement-health · T1
You've quietly stopped promoting from within
development-mobility · T1
Your ratings are compressing
performance · T1
universal shapes — any single metric can take these
A few large values are doing the talking
any focus · T1
A one-time event, not a trend
any focus · T1
It doesn't track — the premise is false
any focus · T1
It's concentrated — one group stands apart
any focus · T1
Scenes are pre-built; your data is the toggle. Browse the full deck or watch one play end-to-end in The Quiet Exodus.
Run it on your data
This metric is computed in the People Analytics Toolbox on your own numbers. See pricing — posted, no quotes.
sources: toolbox:metrics-catalog · principia:metrics
What the literature says
The measurement literature behind this signal — sourced, so you can defend it.
“Lots of factors enter into promotion decisions, and typically not every worker can get a promotion. Let’ s elaborate on each of the four parts of a promotion process. A job hierarchy is an arrangement of jobs into different levels, where the CEO is the highest-level job, and…”
— Strategic Compensation Talentmatch 51%
“Also, there are two ways to increase the size of the prize from promotion. One way is to increase the compensation that the winner gets, and another is to reduce the compensation that the loser gets. If you increase the winner’ s compensation, that becomes expensive, and you’ ll…”
— Strategic Compensation Talentmatch 50%
“Each year about three to four new research assistants were hired, so at any given time there were about six to eight people doing essentially the same work. Why, in a two-year position involving no changes in tasks, did the Fed promote the research assistants and change their…”
— Strategic Compensation Talentmatch 49%
Resources: Strategic Compensation Talent