Die Personalabteilung hat die Beförderung nach dem Mitarbeitergespräch bestätigt.

This is the Perfekt tense, which is very common in everyday German for talking about past events.

• hat = the present-tense auxiliary verb haben
• bestätigt = the past participle of bestätigen = to confirm

So:

• Die Personalabteilung hat die Beförderung bestätigt. = The HR department confirmed / has confirmed the promotion.

In spoken German, Perfekt is often preferred over the simple past (Präteritum) for many verbs.

In a German main clause with the Perfekt tense, the structure is usually:

subject + conjugated auxiliary + other elements + past participle

So here:

• Die Personalabteilung = subject
• hat = conjugated auxiliary in second position
• die Beförderung nach dem Mitarbeitergespräch = the rest of the sentence
• bestätigt = past participle at the end

This is a very common German word-order pattern.

Die Beförderung is the direct object, so it is in the accusative case.

The verb bestätigen takes a direct object: you confirm something.

• Was hat die Personalabteilung bestätigt?
• Die Beförderung.

So die Beförderung is accusative.

A useful detail: Beförderung is a feminine noun, and in the singular, the article die is the same in both nominative and accusative. So even though it is accusative here, it still appears as die Beförderung.

Because the preposition nach takes the dative case in this meaning.

The noun is:

• das Mitarbeitergespräch = the employee review / staff meeting / appraisal discussion

Its dative singular form is:

• dem Mitarbeitergespräch

So:

• nach dem Mitarbeitergespräch = after the employee review

This is something worth memorizing: when nach means after, it is followed by the dative.

Here it means after the employee review — a time expression.

That is the natural reading in this sentence:

• Die Personalabteilung hat die Beförderung nach dem Mitarbeitergespräch bestätigt.
• The HR department confirmed the promotion after the employee review.

But nach can have other meanings in German too, such as:

• to / toward a place: nach Berlin
• according to: nach dem Bericht

So nach does not always mean after. In this sentence, the context makes the time meaning clear.

Because German very often forms compound nouns by joining words together.

Here:

• Mitarbeiter = employee
• Gespräch = conversation / meeting / discussion

Together:

• Mitarbeitergespräch = employee review / staff discussion / appraisal meeting

In German compounds, the last part is the main noun and determines the gender.

Since Gespräch is neuter (das Gespräch), the whole compound is also neuter:

• das Mitarbeitergespräch

The same principle applies to:

• Personalabteilung = personnel department / HR department
  Final part: Abteilung = feminine, so die Personalabteilung

In German, all nouns are capitalized, not just proper names.

So in this sentence, these are capitalized because they are nouns:

• Personalabteilung
• Beförderung
• Mitarbeitergespräch

This is a basic but very important spelling rule in German.

The noun Beförderung is feminine: die Beförderung.

One useful clue is the ending -ung. Nouns ending in -ung are almost always feminine in German.

Examples:

• die Beförderung = promotion
• die Entscheidung = decision
• die Rechnung = bill / invoice
• die Bedeutung = meaning

So -ung is a very helpful pattern to learn.

Yes. German allows some flexibility, especially with time expressions like nach dem Mitarbeitergespräch.

For example, you could also say:

• Nach dem Mitarbeitergespräch hat die Personalabteilung die Beförderung bestätigt.

This still means the same thing, but now the time phrase comes first for emphasis.

The important rule is that in a main clause, the conjugated verb still stays in second position:

• Nach dem Mitarbeitergespräch = first position
• hat = second position

So the word order can change, but the verb-second rule remains.

German past participles in the Perfekt use either haben or sein.

Bestätigen uses haben, so we get:

• hat bestätigt

In general:

• Most verbs use haben
• Verbs of movement or change of state often use sein

Examples:

• Sie hat die Beförderung bestätigt.
• Er ist nach Hause gegangen.

So with bestätigen, haben is the correct auxiliary.