Feeling Stuck: How to Handle a Promotion Denial Due to Unwritten Criteria?

Hi, I'm working at a prestigious insurance company for the last three years where I have achieved my goal sheet comprehensively. However, my promotion has been denied due to high early death claims, but this was not provided in writing and was not part of our goal sheet or target. I have also approached my supervisor, and he is saying that it is an organizational decision and we can't do anything.

Question About Promotion Criteria
My question is, if early death claims were part of my goal sheet or promotion criteria, why has it not been given to me in writing? As of now, I am not aware of what the early claim target is. No written communication has been received; they are only saying this verbally.

Please help me out. What can I do in this situation? Should I leave the organization, or should I stay here?

Dear Suresh,

An average salesperson can only sell insurance policies. If death claims arise, it is sheer bad luck for the insurance company. However, holding employees responsible for excessive death claims is ridiculous. The organization cannot have a sales target and also a target for keeping deaths below a certain level.

I recommend you approach the highest HR authority of your organization and explain to him/her that setting verbal targets is unreasonable.

If the HR Head does not help you, then you may submit an application to the MD of the company. If he also remains indifferent, then you are free to decide whether to continue with your employment or not.

General Comments

If employees are given double targets for the same work, one in written form and another verbally, then this is unjust to the employee. HR professionals are expected to rise and take up the cause of the employees. Dual targets or duplicitous targets send the wrong signals to the employees. They come up with inventive ways to engage the employee with the organization. However, such activities could turn superfluous if the employees are not given fair treatment.

Thanks,

Dinesh Divekar

First of all, is this promotion based on seniority, merit, or a combination of both? Secondly, are you in a nationalized insurance company or a private one? Much would depend on these factors for any legal recourse in the matter.

Too many early death claims adversely affect the interests of insurance companies and are a negative factor. Obviously, it cannot be formally communicated as a performance indicator, yet it will underlie the promotion process.

Promotion cannot be claimed as a matter of right; the right of the employee is to be considered for promotion. Apart from performance, a critical factor to be considered is the potential for higher responsibilities. All these factors need to be considered before selecting the right candidate.

How do you fare in all these aspects compared to the others who were promoted? If you feel you have been good enough and if you are in a public sector insurance company, where promotion seniority subject to fitness is a factor, then you have a case to fight in court.

Dinesh-ji, I feel your analysis of the matter is slightly incorrect as you are not considering the industry factors.

There have been cases where insurance salesmen have met their targets by selling insurance to a group or target customer group that is normally avoided by the insurance company. For example, if you sell insurance to a chronically ill person or someone with a terminal illness, it will typically be rejected by the insurance company's risk team. However, the salesman may actually coach the customer on how to hide the facts so that it does not get rejected.

IDRA regulations now specifically state that the insurance company cannot reject a claim for death after 24 months, even if it is proved that information was suppressed or fraudulently applied. So, the insurance company has less protection now (though personally, I believe IDRA was right to implement these rules and that all insurance companies are cheats).

Now, if you think from the company's point of view, every salesman will have some cases of early death. But if the ratio is very high for a particular person (to the extent of abnormality or it stands out from the rest), it is natural for the company to think that it was deliberate on the part of the salesman.

It could be a training fault, or it could be a strategy on the part of the salesman. Under the regulations, cherry-picking is not allowed, so the company cannot really include it in the performance matrix (as KK has pointed out).

That said, I think Mr. Suri should take this up with his HR head and also through the internal grievance portal (which almost every insurance company has) and escalate the matter to higher authorities. Most insurance companies have very high employee turnover, and they wouldn't want to let go of a trained, successful salesman, so they are likely to respond and give a hearing at least.

Hi sir, thank you for replying. I'm working in a private insurance company and would like to inform you that this promotion is neither based on seniority nor merit. This is an automatic promotion based on goal sheet achievement, which I attained as mentioned in the previous thread. Early claims were not a part of our promotion or goal sheet. This is the first time the company has declined some employees' promotions due to early death claims. This decision was made by the organization without any prior notice to employees.