# Ladderdodging: workers are rejecting promotions

> More employees are turning down career advancement to escape the stress, responsibility and isolation that come with management roles.
- Title: Ladderdodging: workers are rejecting promotions · Fastcompany
- Summary: More employees are turning down career advancement to escape the stress, responsibility and isolation that come with management roles. Workers increasingly…
- Keywords: career advancement, promotions, workplace trends, management roles, gen z, millennials, work stress, ladderdodging, workers, rejecting, Fastcompany
- Source: Fastcompany — https://fastcompany.com/91623676/avoiding-a-promotion-you-might-be-ladderdodging
- Read time: 1 min
- Topics: career advancement, promotions, workplace trends, management roles, gen z, millennials, work stress, ladderdodging
## A new word for an old choice
Ladderdodging describes declining a promotion to avoid added pressure, risk and loneliness that comes with management positions. The term appears in a new book of one hundred Future Words.
## Rejecting promotions is now the norm
Declining a promotion was once almost unheard of, but recent studies suggest it has now become the norm, especially among younger workers in the workplace.
## After-hours work is a dealbreaker
A July survey by emotional insight platform Hint App found that fifty eight percent of workers would reject a promotion if it required them to be available after hours.
## Gen Z avoids middle management
A two thousand twenty four survey by recruitment firm Robert Walters found that fifty seven percent of Gen Z professionals have no interest in middle management roles.
## Leadership is not a priority
Deloitte's two most recent annual Gen Z and Millennial surveys both found that only six percent see leadership as a primary career goal for their future.
## The human dynamics problem
Rohit Bhargava, coauthor of Future Words, explains that managing not just work but all of the human dynamics of people working for them is not something everyone is ready to do.

> "Ladderdodging is essentially people at work looking at the offer of a promotion and seeing the additional stress and additional responsibilities that come with it, and saying, 'You know what? I'm good,'"
## How the term was created
Bhargava and coauthor Henry Coutinho-Mason developed each of the one hundred words based on emerging research and anecdotal evidence from working with business leaders.
## The book's purpose
The goal of Future Words: A Non-Obvious Glossary of Terms That Don't Exist (but Soon Will) is to spark conversation while offering new language to describe existing or emerging trends.
## Key takeaway

Workers increasingly reject promotions to avoid added stress and responsibility, a trend now called ladderdodging and documented in recent surveys across age groups.