‘There is an assumption they will be more available, respond faster, solve problems outside their official hours, and always be reachable’
For employers, leadership succession is a considerable challenge these days, with many workers saying they will not accept promotions, according to a recent report.
Overall, 64 per cent of workers say promotions carry unspoken expectations that do not appear in the formal job description – and 58 per cent would reject a promotion if the role required them to respond to work messages outside normal hours, even if it paid more, according to Hint App.
Kirill Liakh, managing director at Hint App, says the findings reflect a cultural pattern rather than explicit employer demands.
"I do not think this is necessarily about employers explicitly demanding more," he tells Canadian HR Reporter. "It's often about workplace culture."
Unwritten expectations
Liakh says newly promoted employees often absorb expectations of constant availability by observing existing leaders rather than through formal instruction.
"Once someone is promoted, there is an assumption that they will be more available, respond faster, solve problems outside their official hours, and demonstrate commitment by always being reachable," he says.
"Those expectations are rarely written into a contract, but employees observe them in the people already doing those jobs."
He notes that employees come to interpret senior behaviour as the true, informal job requirement.
"They see managers replying to emails at night, joining calls while on vacation, or carrying the emotional responsibility for the team, and they begin to associate promotion with a permanent increase in availability rather than simply greater responsibility," he says.
A large swath of employees experience “ghost growth” — career advancement in name only, according to a previous report.
Leadership pipeline at risk
The Hint App survey of 13,742 working adults across the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, Latin America, Australia, and Europe found that 61 per cent cite the feeling that work is never fully finished as the biggest disadvantage of promotion. Among workers aged 18 to 34, 68 per cent say they had little interest in managing people if it meant sacrificing work-life boundaries.
Liakh says these unwritten expectations threaten organizations' future leadership supply: "The risk is that organizations begin losing capable leaders before they ever become leaders."
He says this does not reflect declining ambition among younger workers. "It means they are becoming more selective about the kind of success they want," Liakh says, adding that some strong performers may choose to remain specialists rather than move into management roles.
Liakh says the pattern could create a leadership pipeline problem distinct from broader talent shortages.
"There will still be plenty of capable employees, but fewer who actively want traditional management roles," he says.
"Companies could find themselves competing for leaders internally just as fiercely as they compete for talent externally."
Liakh says organizational structures may also evolve in response. This could include "more distributed responsibility, flatter organizational structures, and management roles that place greater emphasis on coaching, collaboration, and decision-making than on being permanently available."
Employees are moving away from the traditional career ladder, making it even more challenging for employers to fill leadership gaps in their workforce, according to a previous study.
Employer response
Employers should recognize that unwritten expectations are shaped by observed behaviour, not written policy, says Liakh, who recommends that employers set clear availability expectations, encourage managers to disconnect after hours, and distribute responsibility across teams rather than concentrating it in one role.
Liakh says leadership should be measured by outcomes rather than visibility.
"Promotion should feel like an opportunity to have greater influence, not an expectation to sacrifice personal time," he says.
When it comes to promotions, organizations may be systematically overlooking high‑performing employees who are underconfident in their own abilities — including autistic workers — while rewarding those who simply look and sound confident, according to a previous report.
