Promotion is Unattractive?

The traditional “Showa-era” work style with long hours, loyalty rewarded through endurance, socializing with bosses after work, staying with one company until retirement, is now covered in dust and rust. The idea that one must wait for their boss to leave before advancing belongs to the past.

Even in Japan, people are now expected to think strategically about their careers: to build and refine skills, and to change companies when necessary. Efficiency has become a key measure of success. For the younger generation in particular (as uncomfortable as that phrase may sound), changing jobs is no longer a failure but an option. One that allows for higher income, more personal time, or greater flexibility for family life.

This shift raises a difficult question: how should companies manage employees who seek stability rather than promotion?

To begin with, what is the problem here? At a glance, the answer is simple: you may lose the right candidate.

Managers do not promote employees at random (or at least, we hope they do not). Promotion decisions are typically based on work style, commitment, performance, and long-term potential. Internal trust is built over time, alongside a shared vision of a future career path. When an employee rejects a promotion, that trust and expectation can feel as though it has collapsed overnight.

Yet this situation is becoming increasingly common, especially among younger professionals in Japan. While individual reasons vary, two points are consistently clear:

1. Their lifestyle does not require promotion.
2. They work to live, rather than live to work.

At its core, this is not about ambition. It is about the declining appeal of management itself.

Once, becoming a manager or director was one of the highest symbols of success in the business world. Seniority, long hours, and endurance were rewarded. Those roles represented status. Today, they represent something different; not a universal goal, but an optional path.

For many younger professionals, “tough but strong” is no longer the ultimate value. They prioritize efficiency, flexibility, and elegance in how work is done. They prefer completing tasks smoothly rather than staying late, maintaining deep connections with smaller teams rather than engaging across large organizations, and spending time with family and friends rather than extending workplace relationships beyond office hours.

Management, by contrast, often means supervising others, delivering difficult feedback without crossing into harassment, reporting upward, and carrying responsibility without sufficient training. In many cases, employees are promoted into management roles without being prepared for what those roles actually require. What looks like authority from the outside often feels like increased pressure with limited support.

This mindset, working to live rather than living to work, is not limited to younger generations. It is increasingly shared by employees across all levels. The role of work in people’s lives is shrinking. Efficiency creates free time, and modern entertainment and personal fulfillment options make it unnecessary to fill that time with work-related identity.

People still work because they must. But they no longer define themselves by work alone. Less overtime, fewer sacrifices, fewer incentives to accept responsibility simply for the title. This is not a moral judgment, it is a structural shift in values.

In such an environment, an old-fashioned promotion is no longer effective bait.

On top of this shift in values, companies in Japan are facing continued cost pressure. While the most visible crises (tax increases, the pandemic, and geopolitical instability) no longer dominate daily conversation, their economic impact remains.

Rising import costs driven by a weaker yen, higher global production expenses, and limited room for price adjustment have significantly reduced companies’ ability to increase salaries. As a result, promotion often comes without a meaningful financial incentive.

When promotion simply means greater responsibility without proportional reward, it is understandable that employees choose stability, even a job change over advancement.