Why is everyone talking about… ‘conscious unbossing’?

There is a quiet shift happening in our workplaces that carries with it significant change. As the next generation reaches management-levels of seniority, they are rejecting the traditional path of people management to instead focus on growing their expertise, Forbes shared in a recent report.

A recent survey by recruitment agency Robert Walters found that 52% of Gen Z employees want absolutely nothing to do with traditional management roles, but not because they don’t want the seniority.

As Lucy Bisset, Director of Robert Walters North shares: "It's not that Gen Z doesn't respect leadership. It's that they associate management with stress, limited autonomy, and poor work-life balance."

“This trend highlights a shift in workplace dynamics that we, as HR professionals, need to understand and adapt to”, explains Neil Smith, Founder and Director of Fólk Recruitment. It’s a trend that is “about recognising the evolving values and priorities of the younger workforce.” 

It’s part of a changing shift in attitudes towards work: “Gen Z seeks meaningful work, autonomy and a clear impact over traditional managerial roles. They prefer collaborative environments where their voices are heard and valued. This isn't just a passing trend - it's a call for organisations to rethink their leadership structures and career paths.”

In practice, this is yet another data point that reinforces the need to put in place clear, attainable performance and development strategies for your employees to offer flexible paths beyond those to people management (and indeed, effective systems to manage that process).

We recommend the following:

• Consider your org chart: Take the time to see where you really do need succession planning for leadership positions. Are there managerial layers or positions that actually aren’t essential or could be combined?

• Offer alternative routes: Build career frameworks that enable ‘expertise’ pathways and provide personalised learning opportunities to give younger employees the control that they aspire to have over their careers.

• Help them find their purpose: Create a workplace where employees’ ideas are supported and they can build their own meaningful projects, both inside and outside revenue-generating activities (such as charity work).

• Connect them to the right people: Provide hands-on opportunities for continuous learning, such as shadowing on projects and think about setting up cross-department mentorship to enable them to grow their expertise.

• Why is everyone talking about… the ‘middle manager crisis’?

• Employee burnout: causes, signs and strategies

• The definitive guide to employee wellbeing

That's all for this week's edition of Personio Pulse: This Week in HR. Check back next week as we continue to dissect the latest trends impacting the ways we work. 

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