Young workers taking different approach to climbing the corporate ladder: experts

A man walks though a downtown Toronto office building with other buildings reflected in a window in this June 11, 2019 photo. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Graeme Roy

Building a pipeline of potential managers is getting more difficult as younger people increasingly aren’t interested in leading a team.

With younger employees focusing more on work-life balance compared with previous generations, some are forgoing the traditional climb up the corporate ladder, leading to structural changes and new challenges for companies.

“I think for this generation, there’s more prestige in being really good at what you do versus being in charge of people,” said Nora Jenkins Townson, the founder of HR consultancy Bright + Early.

“I think we’ve grown up with a lot of the stories of the bad boss or really directional or authoritative leadership styles, and I think that younger generations are more critical of that.”

Figures from a Robert Half survey conducted in March 2025 found that while some gen Z workers still want promotions into management roles, about half do not.

The survey, which questioned 835 Canadian professionals, shows about 39 per cent of gen Z workers were interested in management roles, with the next highest percentage coming from millennials at 34 per cent.

According to the survey results, about 50 per cent of gen Z workers would prefer a promotion into a role where they are not managing others. That preference declines among older generations, with the next highest coming in at 44 per cent among gen X workers.

One of the main reasons many gen Z workers favour non-management roles is a focus on work-life balance, said Tara Parry, director of permanent placement services at Robert Half Canada. Of those who indicated a preference in the survey to remain in non-management roles, 51 per cent said they can maintain their work-life balance in their current role.

“When they look at people leadership roles, they realize that tenuous balance of work and life can really be quickly put out of whack when you’re responsible for other people,” she said.

With more workers choosing different paths, Parry said there is a “huge shortage” in candidates for management, noting the trend was already starting to be noticeable 10 years ago at executive levels.

For companies navigating the shorter supply of managers, she said it could help to recognize leadership qualities early in people’s careers and begin to support those individuals with training and development to foster their skills.

“Sometimes people don’t want to put their hand up to go into leadership because they feel like we often don’t train people to be managers or people leaders until they’re already in the seat,” Parry said.

“If we start training people before they’re even in that role … I think more people would be willing to put their hands up because they feel ready for it versus taking a risk for it."

For those choosing not to take on manager responsibilities, it may mean specializing to a greater degree.

“For gen Z specifically, or for anyone who doesn’t want to advance in leadership, it just means you’re likely going to be more skill-specific and focus on a very niche area that you want to specialize in, and those opportunities absolutely do exist,” said Char Stark, manager of people and growth at Beacon HR.

Jenkins Townson said there are also often opportunities for people in non-manager roles to help junior employees.

“Organizations can design career paths for individual contributors where they’re able to coach and mentor people potentially in that specific skill or without being responsible for their career growth or management overall,” she said.

The change in perspective has led to some organizations making structural changes.

In 2023, Shopify Inc. revamped its staffing and compensation model to split staff into two career tracks: managers and crafters, with equivalent compensation for both tracks.

The company said at the time the model would reward people for their impact regardless of whether they manage people or not, while bucking the trend of companies only incentivizing and rewarding managers.

With more younger workers interested in differing forms of career advancement, Parry said many companies have “done well to create career paths for people that don’t include team leadership.”

Those roles can sometimes take the shape of a change in the size or scope of an employee’s client list or becoming a subject matter expert within an organization, she said.

She said Robert Half allows employees to earn more senior titles, but ones that are not always associated with leading others. Parry said a lot of larger companies have been doing this for “quite some time already.”

“I think organizations have become quite savvy that in order to keep your workforce fulfilled and feeling like they’re growing, there has to be other options because you can’t just move everybody up into management,” she said.

Daniel Johnson, The Canadian Press