“Talent firm Randstad's study of 27,000 people found 39% don't want promotions – they're happy in their jobs. One-third never want to be managers, showing workers are rethinking where career advancement fits in their lives.”
~Business Insider, November 2024
It is no surprise to us at VIM Executive Coaching that the traditional leadership pathways are slowly fading. The model of “young eager beavers clawing their way to the top,” is seemingly the model of generations past. There comes the question of “why?”
More than Burnout
Business writer Adrian Volenik, writing for Yahoo! Finance (November 2, 2024), tackled the so-called burnout issue. She noted a recent Gallup poll:
“…that 76% of employees feel burned out sometimes and about 28% say they are often or always burned out. When you're already overwhelmed, the last thing you want is more responsibilities piled on top of that.”
The results of the above research were not a shocker given that in 2023, The American Psychological Association found “77% of workers experience work-related stress.”
Nevertheless, there has always been executive burnout, and there are deeper reasons for employees refusing paths to leadership.
Before anyone had heard of COVID-19, it seemed as though a rather inauthentic dynamic had been at play. Said Volenik, “A 2018 survey showed that 39% of employers frequently offer promotions without any pay increase. And even though some employees may take the title for the resume boost, it doesn't always make them happy about the extra workload.”
This salary disparity was in addition to growing concerns over the work-life imbalance. Employers often showed workers in line to receive increases in salary, benefits and status after “promotions,” but many times the carrots showed at the end of sticks, turned out to be virtual.
Job “Sequencing”
Time magazine ran an article (June 2024) based on a study by Polly Kang and other psychologists regarding high employee turnover. The terminology and findings of the study were complex. However, the findings were rather clear-cut and understandable:
“Our new insight was that long streaks of many hard tasks in a row can create a ‘peak’ moment in terms of a worker’s psychological experience, which is likely to have an outsized impact when workers are thinking back on their job tasks while deciding whether to quit.”
To pull these findings together, to our eyes and sensibilities, it comes down to a long overdue need for workplace mindfulness.
It is one thing to offer a future executive leader a great promotion, and another thing to come through with the envisioned benefits in gaining that promotion. But…is the promotion a true promotion? Will the stress of this promotion “just” increase stress, or will it lead somewhere? If this promotion will affect a work-life balance, what is the trade-off? Why are those questions not being answered with any level of genuineness?
The template for far too long, was that workers were expected to take promises on face value, and that the so-called promotions were thinly-veiled “requests” to do more, work harder, sacrifice greatly and accept nice pictures of beautiful promises.
The true template should have been mindful, authentic and compassionate leadership that recognized future executive leaders as humans with needs and aspirations for their lives.
As business coaches heavily invested in mindfulness teachings, we believe that unacceptable turnover and avoiding responsibilities of executive leadership will continue until organizations see that mindfulness, far above promises, will be the future of effective management.