From Chelsea’s blog post about Chipotle, she brings up several interesting points regarding the benefits of internal recruitment. However, I would like to add my thoughts on the potential downsides of this method.
While I agree on the incentive that internal promotion creates, I think it may also contribute to unhealthy competition and even demoralize employees. Although for now, Chipotle’s size is not large enough to face this kind of issue. Furthermore, I believe that by using a subjective measurement (ability to mentor one’s colleagues), Chipotle has implemented a system that rewards personal development. This is a novel concept to me and I am inclined to believe in its benefits, but I wonder how fair it is to measure performance based on something subjective.
I think internal recruitment is most essential at the beginning of a business’ life cycle because you need dedicated workers to grow the company. Corporate culture is likely not well-formulated yet, thus creating incentives for employees to work harder is crucial. After building this strong foundation, however, it should be time to add some “new blood” to the business. Eventually you need to find external talent in order to mix up the idea pool. Besides, at what point does an employee “reach the top”? Is there a different evaluation system from that moment onwards?