10-4. Employers need to address employee life-cycle career management issues. Most notably, promotions can provide opportunities to reward exceptional performance, and to fill open positions with tested and loyal employees. Several decisions loom large in any firm’s promotion process: Is seniority or competence the rule?

How should we measure competence? Is the process formal or informal? Vertical, horizontal, or other? Women and people of color still experience relatively less career progress in organizations, and bias and more subtle barriers are often the cause. In general, the employer’s promotion processes must comply with all the same antidiscrimination laws as do procedures for recruiting and selecting employees or any other HR actions. Transfers and retirements are other important career life-cycle issues.