The Insider Guide to Careers
Insider information, secrets and tips about getting hired and building careers. For employees and job candidates.
This week, United Airlines faced a bizarre problem it had never encountered before. Pilots are refusing promotions to be captains, hurting United’s profits and quarterly results. Even though the promotions come with much bigger paychecks, pilots dread the unpredictable schedules accompanying the move. 50% of captain vacancies are unfilled as nobody wants them, an unheard-of scenario in the aviation industry. Pilots also want to maintain the ability to choose trips based on their seniority and the chance to plan vacations.
This issue is not just about work-life balance. There are many issues underlying the concept of promotions. The first and most crazy part about work is that every employee is assumed to be hungry for the next promotion. It makes sense for the company as ambitious employees will work harder than everyone else and be ready to do additional work without getting paid more. The employee is supposed to do all this hard work on the assumption that someone will notice all of this. Once the stars align, superiors will grant them promotions as recognition for their efforts. The challenge is that if an employee slacks relative to others, then others will then work harder and get the promotion. So it becomes a zero-sum game, where for someone to gain, another has to lose.
The million-dollar question is, what happens when someone does not want promotions? The depressing answer is that no company wants people who are not desperate for the next promotion. There are just too many people who are zealous aspirants for the next career jump, and only some companies would like a scenario where coasting in life is considered acceptable. If a person does stick around in the same job for a long time, the compensation costs can increase dramatically over time. This change is because the yearly cost of living increases, inflationary adjustments, etc., have a significant cumulative effect over time. It is then easier for the company to replace the person with a much younger and enthusiastic employee willing to do the job for a fraction of the cost.
Historically, companies always had the upper hand regarding promotion conversations. There were always too few slots and a large pool of applicants, meaning that most aspirants had to wait a long time. What has changed in the last couple of years after COVID is that companies have begun to lay off people left, right, and center. The trust between employer and employee has decreased as employees are increasingly seen as replaceable cogs.
Companies follow a pyramidical structure, meaning that positions at the bottom of the pyramid are more extensive in number while positions at the top shrink and are, therefore, more competitive. For example, it is relatively easier to be laid off as a Software Engineer as many other companies, along with competitors, are interested in hiring the person. On the other hand, positions which are Senior Managers or Directors are more difficult to find as they are few and far between. Companies prefer internal promotions to fill these roles compared to external hires as the compensation is higher, and there are higher chances of failure for external employees. In one company I worked for, there were 300 applicants for a Senior Director position, and the company selected nobody at the end of the day.
One final factor is that after COVID, people are looking for a better work-life balance, having tasted working from home for a long time. Those with the right skills are in a position to demand what they want as they know that they cannot be fired as the cost of replacing them could be prohibitively high. Hence, there is an increasing demand from a section of the employees for better balance. Every company will need to find a way to accommodate this talent or risk losing them. People have adjusted to living judiciously during COVID by avoiding dining out and vacations. This has ensured that their cash reserves have picked up and spending patterns have changed. Many employees are now doing more with less and don’t need higher incomes to support their families every year. In short, some employees’ bargaining power has also increased during the pandemic. Hopefully, all these changes will result in a model that works well for both employers and employees.
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