Promotions: The New Catch-22 (and portfolio careers should be catching on)
What white-collar employee doesn't know: Promotions have become rare. The new meme has become to be grateful that you have a full-time job, with benefits.
MSN documents:
"Among 68 million white-collar professionals, just 1.3% were promoted in the first three months of the year, the lowest rate for any first quarter in data going back five years."
With cost-efficiency still a "mission," among employers it's unlikely that situation will change. Actually, organizations might feel that they have received "permission" from the incoming Trump Administration to ramp up the cost-efficiency initiative even further. Cutting expenses is part of Donald Trump's passion. Promotions bring with them increases in compensation, which boost expense.
Simultaneously, though, as this Reddit post indicates, many organizations are up or out. That is if you are not promoted you probably should interpret the decision as a signal that you better seek opportunities elsewhere. One responder to the Reddit post quips:
"The 3 year mark now in so many companies is that up or out
moment. I’ve joked with friends that we should get gold watches for lasting 5
years in one org now!"
There's another wrinkle on this falloff in promotions. That's the flattening of organizations. It's eliminating middle-management positions. It also creates the situation of fewer slots to move up into. BusinessInsider reports:
"Over the past two years, American businesses have been engaged in a rapid-fire restructuring of their corporate hierarchies. In the name of 'flattening,' they've been waging war on middle managers — trimming an entire tier of supervisory jobs"
One solution to ensure a steady flow of income from work is what's being called the "Portfolio Career." It used to be known as "multiple sources of income."
Essentially, as Forbes describes, you combine what could be a broad range of ways of making a buck. For example, in addition to your day job you could be doing psychic readings, driving Uber on weekends, overseeing the books at a small business and operating rental property.
There are two possible perils with a Portfolio Career.
One is brand dilution. Your day job is accounting. A client for that shows up at the metaphysical shop for a tarot reading. It's obvious that client is shocked: You're among the readers. Your credibility in accounting might be dinged.
The second negative is that your day-job employer might interpret your other income pursuits as a distraction or evidence of a lack of commitment to your own core profession. This isn't new. Years ago, when I was coaching for a large organization shade was thrown on a middle manager who let it drop that he was operating a franchise on the side. The tsks-tsks were not only via the superior but also colleagues.
Earning a good living from your labor has become increasingly challenging. Remember how knowledge workers used to sneer about those seeking "safety" in employment. Currently that option might no longer even exist. Recall the stereotype of the secure job as being in the US Postal Service. That could go poof if the Trump Administration privatizes the government function.
An up-to-date guide for sustaining professional success and even upward mobility, no matter what, is the 2024 book "Nobody Cares About Your Career." It's by former Barstool Sports CEO Erika Ayers Badan.
UPDATE:
Morgan Stanley estimates that Amazon could cut up tp 14,000 middle manager jobs. Here are more details from CNBC.
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