Bosses could be letting their employees down in the promotion stakes by focusing on external recruitment rather than internal promotion.

Research from Peninsula BusinessWise reveals that 81 per cent of bosses admit they focus on recruitment rather than promotion, while 77 per cent of workers feel they are suitably qualified and experienced for promotion.

Peninsula BusinessWise managing director Peter Done pointed out that external recruitment is both more time consuming and expensive than promoting from within the ranks.

And although newly promoted people will require training to enable them to do their new job, this is not as extensive as the training required by a new starter.

He added: “If there are no acceptable applicants within the company the decision to recruit externally can be understood. However, the vast majority of employees feel that they themselves are capable, and serious concerns are raised if bosses are automatically bypassing them during the recruitment and promotion process.”