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Climbing the corporate ladder has traditionally meant managing junior teams and leading smaller divisions before hitting the big time. But middle management is losing its appeal, especially with the youngest cohort of employees, who see it as a thankless slog.
In a survey of 2,000 white-collar professionals by recruiter Robert Walters last year, of which 800 respondents were so-called Gen Z employees aged up to 27 years old, half didn’t want to be middle managers at all. Almost 70 per cent dismissed such jobs as “high stress, low reward”.
Older executives sometimes label younger workers as lazy or entitled, but in this regard, it is not hard to understand the views of the Gen Zers. Long hours, endless firefighting and tedious personnel management are the usual markers of these roles.
Younger employees will work hard for higher pay, greater responsibility and career progression — but they’d rather not take the traditional route. Two-thirds of respondents in the survey said they would prefer individual career growth over managing others.
Previous generations equated success with grinding their way up the corporate hierarchy. “Younger people are not ready to sacrifice for an organisation in the way they used to,” said Lucy Bisset, a director at Robert Walters. They are rewriting workplace rules and redefining ambition.
But it is not just Gen Zers turning against middle management. The pandemic forced many people of all ages to reassess whether the old ways of working made sense. Gen Z employees are representative of a broader shift but just more willing to vocalise their preferences. “They want work-life balance, they’re asking if they’re happy day-to-day, do they have freedom to work in the way they want . . . and importantly are they fulfilling their purpose?,” said Bisset.
Flatter corporate structures, greater ability to freelance, and technology-driven autonomy have made alternative career paths more viable. Rather than taking on manager roles, younger workers are prioritising building individual expertise and having control over their schedules.
Of course, a tougher economic climate will force many to fall into line just like their older counterparts. “Flexibility also doesn’t mean guaranteed comfort at all times,” said Martin Reeves, chair of the think-tank BCG Henderson Institute. But many younger employees have likely seen the downsides of blind loyalty. They watched their parents burn out, get laid off, or struggle through economic downturns. The promise of bountiful pensions and job security is not there, trust in leadership and respect for authority is lower and they don’t assume that climbing the ranks will protect them.
Middle management also has an image problem. Instead of guiding and developing talent, these bosses are seen as bureaucratic enforcers, drowning in paperwork and performance reviews, which puts people off applying, said Arvinder Dhesi at Korn Ferry, an executive search company. Despite artificial intelligence agents coming after middle management tasks, younger candidates don’t have the confidence to believe they can redefine these managerial roles either, said Dhesi. The result is companies have “vast swathes of untapped potential.”
If younger employees refuse to step into traditional management roles, companies will need to rethink the appearance of leadership pipelines. Dhesi said business leaders need to broaden their view of what a boss looks like and not be obsessed with creating managers “from central casting”. Instead, rather than viewing younger employees as awkward and disruptive, companies should harness their audacity and fresh perspectives.
Gen Z employees also need better role models. Most managers today are “accidental” leaders, says Ann Francke, chief executive at the Chartered Management Institute. They are ill-equipped to mentor, inspire or engage their teams. It’s no surprise that some Gen Z workers tune out or “quiet quit”.
If businesses want young talent to step up, they need to strengthen the managers above them. That partially means training to enable bosses to be better mentors, issue clearer objectives, have realistic targets, give direct and regular feedback and hold workers accountable. “If younger employees were more engaged, they might aspire to be managers,” Francke said.
If companies fail to adapt, the problem won’t just be the thinning of capable hands in the middle, but leadership weakness across the board.
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