Why employees avoid management roles - and how to make leadership more appealing

Experts at SEFE address the concerning trend around talent turning down promotions. 

Once upon a time, moving up meant managing people. Today, half of UK workers are rejecting this commonly held belief.

It’s clear that the appeal of management has lost its shine. For many, it’s not a promotion but a punishment that equates to more stress, more admin, and barely any extra reward. Among Gen Z, almost 70% see middle management as ‘high stress, low reward’. When younger talent would rather stay put than step up, it’s time to start looking at the problem to address it.

Why are people walking away?

Too often, management is a dead-end dressed up as career growth. You get a title, but also long hours, rigid structures, and responsibility without the right support.

Almost half of HR leaders have admitted that employees are turning down promotions. And who can blame them when so many managers are “accidental leaders”, promoted purely on length of service, not talent, and left to sink or swim?

Add in cultural shifts, where workers want flexibility, autonomy, and purpose, not a bigger desk and a job title, and it’s no surprise we’re seeing what’s been dubbed ‘conscious unbossing’. People are stepping back from management, not towards it.

How to make leadership worth it

If companies want to fix the pipeline, they need to make management something people actually want.

Balance the stress with reward: If companies want people to develop and hone their skills, they must pay properly, cut bureaucracy, and give managers the authority to get the best out of their team.

Train, don’t just promote: Coaching, mentoring, and structured development should be the default to ensure that team members are ready and prepared to take the leap when they’re offered a promotion.

Offer more than one ladder: For some employees, management just isn’t their forte, but why should that mean they don’t get promoted? Create senior specialist and project leadership roles for those who don’t want to manage a team.

Redefine leadership: Stop selling leadership as endless responsibility; instead, make it about impact, growth, and influence. Relate it directly to their current job and how they can help to achieve more.

Right now, management is the job that few people want. If businesses don’t turn that around, they’ll be left with a leadership gap that no external hire can fill. Employees aren’t asking for the moon. They just want leadership to feel like a step forward, not a step into burnout.

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