Colleague been given promotion but this was never advertised

[Tart306]

I've nothing against her, she is a nice person and is good at her job, it's more to do with our manager.

The woman has been given the role of assistant team leader by default, but this was never mentioned to any of us or advertised anywhere. She got the role almost instantly too and now deputises for the manager. Don't know if she's being paid extra but not my business, but I'm sure a few of us would like to progress and can't all do it.

As I say it's not the woman's fault, I just don't understand why she's suddenly deputy manager, this is the Civil Service too. Maybe she asked the manager if there were any opportunities to progress, but a few of us have also said the same.

It’s also very bad for staff morale to see other people being parachuted into posts you didn’t get a chance to apply for

But it doesn’t sound as though there is a new post, or a promotion has occurred here. Simply, a staff member has been delegated some tasks as and when, which is normal. It’s not typical those tasks are delegated around a team of 20 pass the parcel style, more standard would be 1 or 2 in a team of 20 based on manager comfort and targeted development for progression. I’ve managed teams for decades in both public and private sectors and that’s pretty much how it works.

You may also have someone who, while not ‘the best’ currently, has the better potential to quickly upskill and leapfrog up several levels over people who are currently better. So, you often get their colleagues scratching their heads saying ‘why not me, I’m better’ but not realising, while this is currently true, it’s been assessed their ultimate potential pretty much has a lower roof so it’s better to ‘invest’ in the other person.

Then there’s other considerations, as to who you may want above you for the benefit of your department. Many’s the time I’ve given someone opportunities as I see them eventually being suitable for upper roles that would impact my department. I’d prefer to enable someone to get there that I know is going to benefit/not hinder my department. It’s all a strategy thing.

It doesn’t sound like she’s actually been given a promotion; there’s no new job title or, by the sounds of it, money. It sounds like maybe she’s asked what sort of opportunities there are for progression or development and she’s been given that opportunity. That’s a) proactive of her and b) a good thing that your manager is doing. The only issue is if she’s not doing her actual job because she’s acting up into an assistant manager role.

I’ve got some high performers in my team who aren’t quite ready to take the next step yet but want to get some experience, so I’ve given them the opportunity to line manage some of the very junior members of the team, plus got their team managers to get them to assist with some of their tasks. It means that when they do get to interview for the next role up, they have experience they can use to answer any questions too.

Unless I’m missing something she hasn’t actually been promoted, no change to role title formally so no pay rise etc. Quite possibly she has just asked for more responsibility to boost her experience, get the skills to boost competencies for promotion, which is completely fine and good for her taking that initiative.

It’s sucks but I work in the private sector and this happens ALL the time.

CS here. I work on a team all the same grade. We speak to our manger in our 1-1 each month and give ideas of things we’d like to try. We all do different tasks. I can’t give examples because it would be very outing, but I do a task extra to my job that I am interested in - if someone else also wanted to do it we would share the task.

none of us are paid extra, it’s all just for our own progression.

What would you rather happened ? They wasted their time advertising, you wasted your time applying and it was given to her anyway?

If you’re agency, then you’re not part of the Civil Service, so their official processes for advertising promotions fairly don’t apply.