Published on: July 8, 2025 at 9:37 pm
More young workers are prioritizing scheduling flexibility and work-life balance, and finding traditional managerial career paths less appealing. Even when they’re offered a promotion to a management role, some talented young professionals are choosing to remain individual contributors rather than take on the stress of managing people.
Academy of Management Scholar Carol Kulik of the University of South Australia said, based on this growing trend, she recommends that management rethink how they motivate and retain employees. Kulik said in previous years, companies “held onto people by promoting them and giving them more and more responsibility.”
However, in some cases, this is no longer effective, and it could drive away top performers who prefer to deepen their specialized skills. Even if they stay, there’s a risk of moving talented employees off a role that maximizes their job satisfaction and productivity.
“As these people who are strong individual contributors become more and more untethered, are we just creating a gig economy?” Kulik said.
Not all high performers have the same aspirations for their career paths. Kulik explains that one employee might welcome the opportunity to climb the ladder by taking on a management role, while another might prefer to expand their current role by taking on more responsibilities without managing others. Kulik cited the risk to both employer and employee when there’s a disconnect or miscommunication about the individual’s planned or desired career path.
Kulik explained that this misalignment of employee aspirations and employer assumptions is happening because management is clinging to outdated career models rather than building meaningful growth paths for individual contributors.
“Historically, organizations have not done a good job with individual contributors because they don’t develop career ladders that are long enough for employees to feel that they’re getting the same kind of benefits or are valued as much as employees on the managerial ladder,” Kulik said.
“If they don’t feel valued or don’t see attractive opportunities for professional growth, individual contributors lose connections to organizations,” she said.
Companies can honor individual contributors by asking about their preferences and offering flexible career-growth opportunities that incorporate each person’s professional aspirations.
