Employee promotion positively impact employee engagement and motivation; however, only 16 percent of employers widely communicate this opportunity for recruitment and retention, according to the 2012 WorldatWork survey report Promotional Guidelines.

"WorldatWork has been studying promotional practices for several years and have found that organizations consistently under communicate promotional guidelines and policies to the general employee population," says Kerry Chou, a Certified Compensation Professional and practice leader at WorldatWork. "Employers may be missing out on an opportunity to enhance its ability to attract, motivate and retain employees by not sharing general information about the guidelines or processes associated with promotions."

The survey also finds that respondents do not share promotional guidelines with employees, but they still budget for employee advancement programs and promote 8 percent of employees on average in a year. The typical promotional increase given to salaried employees this year is 8.7 percent, an increase from 8.3 percent in 2010. Meanwhile, officers and executives see an average promotional pay gain of 10.2 percent, a jump from 9.5 percent in 2010.