Do major corporations promote employees more quickly?

Employees at Tesla get promoted the quickest (10.4 months), while Google sees the lowest promotion rate.

Working in a large corporation is often believed to lead to better career prospects with a standardised promotion structure. However, a recent study by StandOut CV showed that some may take more than eight years to climb the career ladder at such companies.

Analysing the 20 largest companies by market capitalisation in the UK and US, and the listed career histories of 950-1,000 UK and US employees from each company on LinkedIn, the study revealed that employees at automotive company Tesla get promoted the quickest at just 10.4 months.

The companies with the shortest wait time for promotion:

1. Tesla (10.4 months)
2. J.P. Morgan (15.2 months)
3. Diageo (15.5 months)
4. Microsoft (16.0 months)
5. HSBC (17.2 months)

On the contrary, people at metals and mining corporation RioTinto have to work over eight years (98 months) before being promoted, accordingly to StandOut CV research. This is 38 months more than chemical company Linde, which has the second longest time-to-promotion in the study at 60.5 months.

The companies with the longest wait time for promotion, as recognised by the research team at StandOut:

1. Rio Tinto (98.0 months)
2. Linde (60.5 months)
3. RELX (53.0 months)
4. Eli Lilly (47.1 months)
5. Broadcom (44.4 months)

Generally, the average time to get promoted in the world’s largest corporations is 30.4 months.

Regarding the possibility of being promoted, people see a bigger chance for a promotion at Linde, with the highest promotion rate of 57.2% despite its long wait time.

The companies with the highest promotion rate, as recognised by the research team at StandOut:

 1. Linde (57.2%)
 2. Unilever (54.0%)
 3. Eli Lilly (52.0%)
 4. Broadcom (51.7%)
 5. HSBC (51.4%)
 6. Diageo (48.8%)
 6. GlaxoSmithKline (48.8%)
 8. Shell (47.7%)
 9. Tesla (47.1%)
10. BP (46.5%)

However, less than a quarter of workers at tech giants Meta and Google (23%) had been promoted from within the company – the lowest rate in the study.

The companies with the lowest promotion rate, as recognised by the research team at StandOut:

 1. Google (23.0%)
 1. Meta (23.0%)
 3. NVIDIA (28.0%)
 4. Apple (37.4%)
 5. RELX (38.9%)
 6. Rio Tinto (39.9%)
 7. Microsoft (40.0%)
 8. AstraZeneca (41.3%)
 9. J.P. Morgan (42.9%)
10. Amazon (43.1%)

As talent competition has become fiercer, many companies have turned their search to in-house. According to the findings, across all surveyed companies, 43.8% of current employees had been promoted to their current positions from within the company.

Segmented by seniority level, nine in ten (90.3%) of Vice Presidents were promoted to the role from within the company – the highest promotion rate followed by Associate (70.1%).

Looking at the wait time for promotion, interns are the most likely to be promoted after the shortest amount of time at 8.7 months, while the average Vice President takes an average of 22.1 months for a promotion, clearly showing that promotions take longer and longer to achieve as people climb the career ladder.

Image / StandOut CV