Why 85% of Employees Don’t Want to Become Managers - And What to Do About It

Your best people are saying no. Here’s what’s behind it

A new survey of 5,000 employees has uncovered a serious problem for most large companies: almost nobody wants to become a manager anymore.

Only 15 out of every 100 non-managers say the idea of becoming a manager appeals to them. Nearly two-thirds (63 out of 100) say it is not an attractive prospect. And 40% say the daily experience of senior leaders does not look appealing either.

This is not a small issue. If companies cannot find enough people willing to become managers, basic operations like approving time off, assigning work, resolving conflicts, and keeping teams on track will start to break down.

Why employees are saying no

The main reason is simple: the job has become much harder than it used to be, but the pay and respect have not kept up.

Two-thirds of employees (66%) say management roles involve significantly more responsibility today than they did just a few years ago. At the same time, trust in leadership is very low. Only 17% of employees believe that leaders put workers first when making big decisions.

One expert quoted in the survey put it bluntly: management has become a “thankless task.”

Here is what that means in everyday terms:

Many employees become managers by accident. They are good at their technical job (like coding, selling, or accounting), so someone promotes them. But they get no real training in how to handle difficult conversations, give negative feedback, or support a struggling employee.

Managers are expected to do their old job plus the new management job. In many companies with lean teams, a manager still has to produce individual work while also managing five or ten people. That adds up to a 50- or 60-hour week.

Pay for managers has stopped growing. In some cases, a senior individual contributor (like a lead engineer or senior analyst) earns the same as or more than a first-line manager, without the headaches of dealing with employee complaints, attendance issues, or performance problems.

There is no clear career path. In many companies, the only way to get a raise or a promotion is to manage more and more people. But that often means keeping all your old responsibilities as well. So a team leader becomes a department head but still does team-leader work. That does not appeal to many people.

What happens if companies ignore this

If companies do nothing, three predictable problems will emerge within two years.

First, there will be no internal candidates for senior roles. When a director or vice president leaves, the company will have to hire from outside at a much higher cost. External hires typically cost 30% to 50% more than internal promotions, and they fail at higher rates.

Second, existing managers will burn out and leave. Replacing a single mid-level manager often costs 150% to 200% of that person’s annual salary when you factor in recruiting, onboarding, and lost productivity.

Third, execution will suffer. Frontline managers are the ones who turn high-level strategy into daily action. Without good managers, strategic plans stay on PowerPoint slides and never reach the shop floor or the customer service desk.

What needs to change - in plain terms

The survey experts offered several practical fixes. Here is the same advice translated into everyday language.

1. Stop adding duties without removing something else

Look at a typical manager’s weekly calendar. If they spend more than 30% of their time on paperwork, data entry, or doing work that used to belong to their direct reports, that is a problem. Either hire administrative support, or reassign those tasks back to individual contributors. A manager’s main job should be helping people succeed, not filling out forms.

2. Create two separate career tracks

Not everyone wants to manage people. That is fine. Create one track for people who want to become better and better at a technical skill (like programming, design, or data analysis). Pay them as much as you pay directors and vice presidents. Create a separate track for people who genuinely enjoy coaching and leading teams. Make sure neither track is seen as the “lesser” option.

3. Fix the pay gap right now

Compare what a first-line manager earns to what their best direct reports earn. If the manager makes less than 20% more and works 10 or more extra hours per week, you are underpaying. Add a clear bonus for team performance. If a manager’s team retains good people and meets its goals, the manager gets a bonus. That aligns pay with the actual work of managing.

4. Train managers like any other skilled job

No one would let a person fly a plane or wire a building without training. But companies regularly let someone become a manager with zero training in basic people skills. Require certification before promotion. That certification should include: how to give negative feedback, how to spot burnout, how to run a remote meeting, and how to handle a request for mental health leave. Make the training tough. Signal that management is a real skill, not a side project.

5. Rebuild basic trust

Only 17% of employees trust leaders to put workers first. That is a crisis. One practical step: publish a short document called “What managers can decide.” List the things a manager can do without asking permission: approving small expenses, adjusting schedules, offering flexible hours. Then list what managers cannot decide. Then hold senior leaders accountable. If a vice president bypasses a manager to give orders directly to that manager’s team, the vice president should have to explain that decision publicly.

Uncomplicated

The survey data is not complicated. Most employees see the manager role as a bad deal. More work, more stress, same pay, and little respect.

Companies built that problem over many years by adding responsibilities to the manager role without ever asking whether the role still made sense. The good news is that the problem is fixable. But fixing it requires real changes to pay, training, career paths, and daily workload.

Ignore the data, and the organization will slowly grind to a halt with no one willing to steer. Act on it, and management becomes a job that smart people actually want again.