Not everyone cares about promotion

I would agree with you there. I think there are many people who are perfectly content to do the job they do, without necessarily wanting to move up to another level - like management, for instance - with all the associated pressures and stresses which go with a more senior position.

I agree - as a teacher I just wanted to be a good classroom practitioner not a less than good manager. I enjoyed being good at the job I was doing.

Yes, I took a huge paycut 14 years ago to be able to WFH. I loathe the lack of money and the consequent worry about the future; I will also have to work till I drop.

But, overall, it was worth it. I could not spend another day working for somebody else, the bullying, the office politics, etc, etc.; and I very much like what I do now.

Yep, I don’t get it either.
When I was interviewed for my last teaching job, I was asked ‘where do you want to be in five years time’.
I said doing the job that I’m applying for.
I simply couldn’t understand the desire to be Head of Year etc.
Perhaps I’m just lazy!

Actually, scrub that. I’m not lazy at all, I’m extremely conscientious.
I think that some maybe more interested in promotion than doing a good job, as rockgran said

I don't want a promotion I want to leave

Bloody get on with it Jane!?

I agree. Over my years in nursing I have seen many colleagues promoted into jobs which involves them rushing around from meeting to meeting often harassed due to being late when a meeting goes over instead of caring for patients. I chose nursing as a career because I wanted to care for people and make a difference and had no ambitions to enter the management world of finances, cutting services etc. I retired from a job where most of the day I was caring for patients and not trying to balance books and cut services.

I completely agree. I worked in HR for 30 years and many people just want to do their job but don't want promotion or more responsibility. They find the 'annual performance appraisal' torture especially when the 'What do you want to achieve next year?' question comes up. They just want to quietly do a good job well and then go home and live a life.

Managers would often say to me 'Well of course they'll go for promotion, everyone wants more money/status/recognition." but the truth is that whilst some do, some really don't.

Eventually I proved the theory personally by chucking my HR career to the wind to retrain as a gardener where I worked very happily for many years on a fraction of the salary and only the plants and lovely clients to please. I was much more content out there in the fresh air with the sun on my face.

They find the 'annual performance appraisal' torture especially when the 'What do you want to achieve next year?' question comes up. They just want to quietly do a good job well and then go home and live a life.

"I want to exceed the expectations of the job so I get a Box 1 marking, a bigger pay rise and consequently a bigger pension when I thankfully retire from this bloomin' stressful place!"

People at Head Office often get the promotions rather than those out in the satellite offices etc because they have the ear of top management.

It's also important that for those who do want promotion, presenteeism isnt the criteria by which to get it.

I work with a woman who, with her husband, was extremely comfortable financially. She has a young daughter and when WFH during lockdown was delighted with being able to walk her to school, be there when she got home etc. Once restrictions eased they spent most Summer weekends heading off to the beach where they have a mobile home. She planned to ask for a hybrid working arrangement once people started heading back to the office.

She applied for and got a promotion that now means she's in the office all the time, and often has to work late and at weekends. She seems happy with her choice but it wouldn't have been a choice I would have made.

I agree. I was a hospital social worker for 25 years and never wanted promotion. My aim was to do my chosen job well and to keep on doing it.

My son is happy working from home, he gets to do the school run and enjoys it.
My daughter worked her way up over 10 years and juggled her private life.
Working from home had such an effect on her, she quit, signed up for a 2 year online course and changed so she can permanently work from home. She is so much better for it

I think it's quite important to look at hybrid models as wfh does not suit everyone, I am aware of people who absolutely could not cope when they couldnt go into the office. I dont understand that but then again I am sure they dont understand my avoidance of the office where possible.

JaneJudge

I don't want a promotion I want to leave

So do I.

I want to leave the office but not the children I work with. It's not the paperwork, I understand the importance of that, it's the office drama, I am just too old to be bothered with it.

It is The Peter Principle - some people chase promotion and get it, until they stick at their level of incompetency, where they can't do the job, are not happy themselves and make the lives of everyone else a misery, (including their immediate bosses who have to sort out the disasters)

The problem is that if you’re good at your job promotion seeks you out, and pressure is put on you to apply for more senior roles even if you’re not actively seeking to go up the ladder. It’s even more difficult to hide your light under a bushel these days with LinkedIn.

When a global pandemic threatens I think many start to view their lives and what is important to them, in a different light, and they have reached the conclusion that work doesn’t give the fulfilment or happiness that they want.
I know several who have cut their hours, or changed careers to something they have always wanted to do. Perhaps working from home also gives a different perspective on family life.
We are only here for the blink of an eye, and I don’t think many on their death beds wish they had worked longer or harder.
It is sadly the case in our society that many do not have the luxury of having a “work life balance” or consider personal fulfilment but work long hours for poor wages, and did so throughout lockdowns..

As a teacher I could never understand the dash for promotion. But then in a previous life I was an administrator and knew the tedium of box ticking/paper pushing. I did enjoy being the girls senior boarding house mistress in a boarding school though. Less admin, more pastoral care.

I work exclusively from home now, partly short term contracts and private work. Someone commented the other day that it would go against me if I ever want to work in a school again. 1) I don't think it will go against me and 2) I might be too old/tired to go back and work in schools again anyway.

But yes, being able to set my own timetable, walk grandson to school and back, be at home with him while I'm working. Priceless.

Although I have not had any “professional “ Jobs, I have been offered promotion particularly in the job I am in now but I have refused it because I like doing what I do,I like being on the front line of Care..

PS it’s about time Care was made into a profession…

Yes Casdon, and in teaching you are sometimes pushed into seeking promotion. If you are top of scale, especially if you are UPR it’s harder to change schools without applying for a management position.