A promotion at work, why some are saying no thanks!

Some people really want that promotion, the added challenge and responsibility. While others are saying hard no. Why is that?

Some employees may want the higher pay and title – but their concern is that the reality of the job won’t, in fact, mesh with the job they love to do day in and out. They will be overseeing more and less hands on, more administering than doing.

A recent article by 光辉国际 states that “—72%—of the youngest generation of workers say they’d rather be individual contributors than middle managers – also known as “conscious unbossing.” The article discussed how may Gen Zers watched their parents get promoted to middle management and suffer burnout. They saw many middle managers struggling to manage teams remotely during the pandemic, and then with hybrid work, enforcing back to work. They seem to feel the added stress and responsibility is not worth giving up their work/life balance. Many reported they would prefer to remain as regular employees or “individual contributors” as Korn Ferry calls them.

According to a 2023 survey, cited in the same article, middle managers are the most stressed members of a company and “about one-quarter of midlevel leaders said they “feel overwhelmed by their responsibilities, and a similar percentage said they don’t feel mentally engaged at work.”

Some companies are finding that the pipeline they need of people willing to grow is stagnant. So what can they do to counter this reluctance to grow and join management?

First, they can promote a culture of work/life balance so that employees see that they can grow without fear of giving up all their free time.

Second, they should expand their talent pool. According to the McKinsey article we covered fewer women, and women of color especially, are given those opportunities to step into management. Companies need to revisit their hiring and promotion practices to ensure these viable candidates are encouraged and not overlooked. They need to promote a culture of excitement and interest in so that people want to grow in their careers.

Some incentives that can be offered are flexibility- this is often the number one consideration a woman needs to be able to grow in their career, because often, she is still the primary caregiver for children and elderly. The ability to have flex start and finish times is a huge help to women. The view and reality of middle management as a means to burnout, stress, and lack of work/life balance must be changed to encourage people to want to grow in their careers.