It’s only fair to expect to be treated with respect at work. It’s also fair to assume that after a decade of working at the company, an application for a promotion would at least be considered.

Redditor u/pipestein’s application wasn’t. They told the ‘Anti Work’ community that the managers refused to view him as a candidate for a higher position. Moreover, they discussed it with somebody else behind the OP’s back, which is why it didn’t take long for them to quit. Yet the company found it difficult to believe that he did. Scroll down to find the full story.

Bored Panda has reached out to the OP and they were kind enough to answer a few of our questions. You will find their thoughts in the text below.

Years of hard work and excellent performance might not be enough to be considered for a promotion

Image credits: seventyfourimages (not the actual photo)

This person quit their job of 10 years because of the way the management handled a promotion

Image credits: FoToArtist_1 (not the actual photo)

Image credits: pipestein

Well-defined promotion policies can help set clear expectations related to climbing the career ladder

The OP didn’t find it fair that not only was the promotion given to the person with less experience—the employee that they trained themselves—but their own application wasn’t even considered. Similar situations are one of the reasons why companies should aim to implement clear policies regarding climbing the career ladder. Indeed pointed out that a well-defined path to a promotion can minimize employee turnover. It also noted that it’s especially important to set clear guidelines for high performing, long-term employees who, without seeing a clear path towards growth, might take their know-how elsewhere.

That’s exactly what the redditor did. They told community members that they already have a new job lined up, which shows that their experience and knowledge must be beneficial in the field. But not getting the promotion wasn’t the only thing that encouraged the employee to walk out the door; they were also disappointed to learn that the management spoke about their application behind their back. That’s unlikely to have helped their relationship in any way and, according to Gitnux, 93% of employed people believe that trust in the leadership team is crucial for them to stay motivated.

“What got me most annoyed about the whole thing was that rather than speaking with me directly, my manager spoke to a person who was not me and told them I would not be considered for promotion then or at any other time,” the OP told Bored Panda. “This manager did not realize that the person they were speaking to was a friend of mine, and I was grateful that they came to me and told me about the conversation. That is what cemented my decision to leave the company. That was a conversation that should have been with me and no one else. I felt that it was not only unprofessional but showed a lack of basic respect for an employee that a manager would do something like this.”

Unfortunately, the OP is far from the only person unhappy with the way career advancement opportunities are handled in their company. Great Place To Work revealed that less than half of Americans think that promotions are fairly awarded at their place of employment. In addition to that, a survey uncovered that one in five employed people feel discriminated against when seeking promotion, mostly because of their age or gender.

Image credits: fauxels (not the actual photo)

Sometimes, changing jobs might make more sense than waiting around for a promotion

CNN Business emphasized that there’s only so much time one can stay at a workplace without a promotion. Even though the opportunities for a title change slow down as the years go by, it’s important to know when to stop waiting around. The author of “Brag! The Art of Tooting Your Own Horn Without Blowing It”, Peggy Klaus told CNN that if the boss gives you vague requirements when it comes to a promotion or provides specific goal posts but continuously alters them, there might be no promotion in sight. She also suggested that sometimes, the best way to advance in your career is to leave the company if it’s unable to provide you with the means of moving forward.

“I am 53 years old and I know many people in my age group that feel trapped. They think that if they leave a job, they will have an impossible time finding a new one. Also, I feel like people get trapped into a routine and think that they need to maintain the status quo, otherwise they are going to end up back at square one and have nothing to show for the effort they have already put forth. This is a trap in my mind. We can always improve our situation. All it takes is making that first step to get the ball rolling,” the redditor said.

“Quiet promotions” are another reason it might be beneficial not to stick with the one workplace option you already have. A survey carried out by JobSage revealed that as much as 78% of employed Americans have been “quietly promoted”, which means they took on greater responsibilities without a pay increase or a title change.

“I had been a fixture at the company up until that point. My managers knew that if there was a problem, they could have me take a look at it and come up with a solution to solve said problem. A lot of my job was training new employees to perform the job and I was one of the go-to people for this,” u/pipestein shared with Bored Panda.

They added that the former employers had a habit of believing that anyone who had stayed beyond a couple of years would be there for 20 years. “I also have the suspicion, after some conversation with managers I’ve had since I left, that upper management did not want to bump me up because of the value I held in the position I had, and since I had been a ‘team’ player for the last 10 years, they thought there was no way I would walk away.

“I know that there are more than a couple in upper management that regret the path they took with me based on those same conversations I had after leaving the company,” the OP said.

Image credits: Sora Shimazaki (not the actual photo)

People in the comments had plenty to say, the OP also provided some more information

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