Published 3 hours ago
Professor Gary Martin
The writer and professor is CEO of the Australian Institute of Management Western Australia and a workplace and social affairs expert.
There’s an uncomfortable but honest truth about our working lives. Today, not everyone wants a job that sits higher on the career ladder
For decades, a promotion—or a jump up the career ladder—was treated as the ultimate reward. A better title, a higher salary and a bigger office, or at least a bigger inbox, were seen as proof that a career was heading in the right direction
The career ladder was there to be climbed, and the assumption was that any ‘normal’ person would keep moving upward, rung by rung. Stopping was unthinkable until the highest point had been reached
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But a growing number of employees are no longer buying into the idea that every career move must be upward. Instead, some are looking for a chance to step off it
To be clear, many steel look towards the next rung. Yet others are deciding that moving upward looks less like progress and more like extra pressure
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That’s where the term ‘job dropping’ comes in.
It refers to workers deliberately stepping back from roles that demand more time, pressure, and responsibility—even when those roles come with a better title or more money
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At first glance, this trend might look like a lack of ambition. In reality, it may reflect a more careful calculation about what ambition should cost
The problem is that employees have watched managers work longer hours, absorb more stress, deal with more conflict, and carry more accountability. They ‘ve also seen that the financial rewards do not always compensate for the loss of time, energy, and peace of mind
For a growing number of employees, it does not feel worth the trade-off
For some workers, especially those with caring responsibilities, health concerns, or interests outside work, a promotion can feel less like an opportunity and more like an invitation to give up the balance they have in their lives
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That can mean declining a promotion, moving out of a management role, cutting hours, or choosing a role with fewer demands and clearer boundaries
This does not mean people have stopped wanting to grow
Rather, many are questioning whether growth must always mean managing others, attending more meetings, or becoming responsible for problems they did not create
Many employees want to deepen their expertise rather than supervise teams, others value flexibility more than status, while many seek meaningful work without the constant demand to be available, visible, and endlessly switched on
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This shift in attitude creates a challenge for organizations
Leadership pipelines rely on the assumption that enough capable individuals will want to move into management. When fewer people put up their hands, gaps begin to appear
Those gaps are unlikely to be filled by simply telling employees that they need to be more ambitious
Instead, organizations need to ask why the next step up on the ladder might be unattractive
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Too often, leadership/ management roles are simply not sustainable. Making them more appealing means providing proper training, clearer expectations, realistic workloads, and genuine authority to make decisions
At the same time, workplaces need expert pathways as well as management pathways. A highly skilled specialist in a given field should be able to grow in pay, status, and influence, without being forced to become a reluctant boss
There is also a need to rethink the way success is described
A career that moves sideways, pauses, or even steps back is not automatically a failed career. Sometimes, it is a wiser career
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In the end, job dropping is not necessarily a sign that employees have given up. It may be a sign they are paying closer attention to what they are being asked to pick up
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