Research promotions in the middle of post-doc contract I noticed that a few people in my field (Computer Science / Community Informatics) have taken up post-doc positions immediately after their PhD but within a year of starting those post-docs have been promoted to Lectureships either internally or in another academic organization. 

The individuals concerned have been very active in their field, and published considerably either during their PhDs or immediately after their PhD write-up or often both (so I do feel like they've earned this!). 

Is this a common practice for academic recruiters (project managers, professors) to employ someone like this for 18month/2 year/3 year contracts knowing that most likely in a year or two they will be promoted or hired by another institution? 

And as a recruiter/senior academic, do you encourage this kind of rapid promotion even if the individual doesn't fulfil their full contract length? 

Any responses, particularly from people who've made switches like this or hired people like these would be appreciated!
When I recruit postdoc it’s under the assumption that they are taking on a transitional role. In some sense I believe it’s in both our interests to have them leave sooner if possible. It’s good for them (pay bump, tenure career starts etc), and for me it helps since it signals to future postdocs that I’m able to get them on the right track to a faculty position. 

In some cases it’s the opposite: a person has secured a faculty position straight out of PhD, and then postponed their start date to take up a one year postdoc (in MSR/Facebook research etc, or with another research group). This is usually done to build up one’s professional network before committing to a department.