Workflow Template
Employee Promotion Workflow
Manager nominates an employee for promotion with proposed role, effective date, compensation change and performance evidence. HR reviews eligibility, then routes for approval based on the compensation change against a threshold (senior leadership approval for large increases, HR manager approval otherwise). On approval, the promotion and effective date are recorded, the employee record updated, and the employee and manager notified. If declined, the request is returned to the manager with the reason and they may revise and resubmit.
Promotion requests get stuck in email chains, approvers aren't clear, and compensation changes slip through without proper sign-off. This workflow lets managers submit promotion nominations with role, effective date, pay change, and evidence, then automatically routes them through HR eligibility review and the right approval path based on the size of the increase. HR and senior leadership run their reviews inside assess.one, and approved promotions update the employee record and notify everyone automatically.
Business Outcomes
- Cut promotion approval turnaround from weeks to days
- Eliminate missed or skipped approvals for large compensation increases
- Remove manual employee record updates and reduce data errors
- Give managers instant visibility into request status and decline reasons
- Create a full audit trail of every promotion decision and approver
Workflow Steps
Steps
- 1Create Promotion Request Recordcreate record
Registers the promotion nomination submitted by the manager.
- 2Set Status: Submittedupdate record
Marks the promotion request as submitted.
- 3HR Eligibility Reviewcreate task
HR reviews the nomination for eligibility (tenure, performance history, policy compliance).
- 4Set Status: Under HR Reviewupdate record
Updates the status once HR has logged the eligibility outcome.
- 5Route on Eligibility Outcome
Only eligible nominations proceed to approval routing.
eligibility_outcome: "Eligible"→Set Status: Pending Approvaleligibility_outcome: "Not Eligible"→Notify Manager: Not EligibleDefault→Notify Manager: Not Eligible - 6Notify Manager: Not Eligiblesend email
Informs the manager that the nomination did not pass HR eligibility review.
- 7Set Status: Declinedupdate record
Marks the record as declined due to ineligibility.
- 8Set Status: Pending Approvalupdate record
Marks the record as pending approval before routing.
- 9Route by Compensation Increase Threshold
Large compensation increases require senior leadership approval; smaller increases require HR manager approval.
compensation_increase: "15000"→Senior Leadership ApprovalDefault→HR Manager Approval - 10Senior Leadership Approvalrequest approvalrequires approval
Requests approval from senior leadership for a compensation increase above threshold.
- 11Route Senior Leadership Approval Outcome
Branches on senior leadership's decision.
approval_status: "approved"→Record Promotion and Effective Dateapproval_status: "rejected"→Notify Manager: DeclinedDefault→End - 12HR Manager Approvalrequest approvalrequires approval
Requests approval from the HR manager for a compensation increase within standard threshold.
- 13Route HR Manager Approval Outcome
Branches on the HR manager's decision.
approval_status: "approved"→Record Promotion and Effective Dateapproval_status: "rejected"→Notify Manager: DeclinedDefault→End - 14Record Promotion and Effective Dateupdate record
Persists the approved promotion, new role, and effective date on the employee's record.
- 15Notify Employee and Manager: Approvedsend email
Sends approval notification to both the employee and the manager.
- 16Notify Manager: Approvedsend email
Confirms the promotion approval to the nominating manager.
- 17Notify Manager: Declinedsend email
Returns the request to the manager with the decline reason.
- 18Set Status: Declinedupdate record
Marks the record as declined pending manager revision.
- 19Return to Manager for Revisionrestart from step
Restarts the workflow from HR eligibility review so the manager's revised nomination can be reprocessed.
Fields
- Manager Name*
- Manager Email*
- Employee Name*
- Employee Email*
- Current Role*
- Proposed New Role*
- +10 more fields
Forms
Employee Promotion Nomination
12 fields
Data Views
All Promotion Requests
employee_name, proposed_role, effective_date, compensation_increase +1 more
Dashboard Widgets
Recommended integrations
Setup the following integrations to extend workflow capability.
Send email in the workflow
AWS SES
Similar Categories
FAQs
How do I set up this promotion workflow for my company?
Publish the template in assess.one and it's live immediately. You then set your own compensation threshold that determines whether senior leadership or HR manager approval applies, and assign the right people to each role. No IT project or external setup is needed.
What do I need before I can start using this workflow?
You need a list of who sits in each approval role — HR reviewer, HR manager, and senior leadership approver. You'll also want your compensation increase threshold decided in advance so the routing logic works correctly from day one.
How long does implementation take?
Publishing the template takes minutes. Once it's live, managers can start submitting promotion requests right away and the workflow runs the full process end to end.
Can I change the compensation threshold that triggers senior leadership approval?
Yes. The threshold is a setting inside the workflow's routing step, so you can adjust it any time as your compensation bands or approval policy change. Updates apply immediately to new requests.
Who needs access to this workflow?
Managers need access to submit requests, HR needs access to run eligibility reviews, and whoever holds HR manager or senior leadership approval roles needs access to approve or decline. You control exactly who sees what inside assess.one.
What happens if HR finds the employee isn't eligible for promotion?
The request is routed to a decline path, the manager is notified with the reason, and the status is set to Declined. The manager can revise the request and resubmit it for another review.
What happens if a promotion request is declined at the approval stage?
The workflow notifies the manager with the decline reason and sets the status accordingly. The manager can then revise the compensation, role, or evidence and resubmit for approval.
How does the employee record get updated after approval?
Once approval is granted, whether by HR manager or senior leadership, the workflow automatically records the new role and effective date and updates the employee record. Both the employee and manager are notified immediately afterward.
Can we customise the notification steps?
Yes. Notification triggers, recipients, and message content are all configurable inside assess.one. You can adjust who gets notified at each status change without any developer work.
Is there an audit trail for compliance purposes?
Yes. Every status change, approval decision, and reason for decline is recorded in the workflow history. This gives HR and compliance teams a clear record of who approved what and when.
Ready to use this workflow?
Create a free account and customise this workflow for your business.