One of the big mistakes that many businesses are still making today is promoting top performers to be managers. Why not? The best salesperson should be promoted to sales manager, right? Well, not quite. It can be a problem because those top performers may have great technical expertise to get them there, but they do not necessarily have leadership skills. Yes, leadership training can be provided. But even with all the best training in the world, sadly, some people just aren’t cut out to be leaders. We have all seen bad leaders too many times. In addition, some highly competent workers may like their jobs so much that they do not want to do anything else, or they just don’t like to manage others because it is very stressful for them. Either way, those top performers, if promoted to be managers, could become ineffective leaders or even toxic ones. And that could lower productivity or even cause subordinates to leave organizations altogether.
Actually, the proportion of workers who wanted non-managerial promotions was quite substantial, especially among the youngest generation in the workforce, according to Robert Half’s survey of 1,000 U.S. workers in 2025. Specifically, the numbers can be broken down by generation as follows:
o Baby boomers, or those who are older than 62 years (29%).
o Gen X, or those who are between 46 and 61 years old (28%).
o Millennials, or those who are between 30 and 45 years old (32%).
o Gen Z in the workforce, or those who arebetween 18 and 29 years old (40%).
Evidently, as many as 40% of Gen Z wanted promotions but did not want to be managers. That’s almost half. If businesses do not offer a dual-track career path, this group of employees will have to go elsewhere to find promotions that are right for them.
To solve this problem, many businesses now offer dual-track career paths where top performers are offered two types of promotion: a managerial path or a technical one. Both paths come with somewhat equal compensation packages. Employees who choose technical paths can still focus on developing their technical expertise without managing anyone. Just like the leadership track, there can still be different levels of positions for the technical path, for example, specialist, senior specialist, consultant, senior consultant, and principal. Keep in mind that although technical experts are not directly responsible for subordinates, they may be asked to mentor junior employees or give advice to the top echelons.
The dual-track career path system can offer flexibility to promoted employees—they may switch back and forth between two tracks. Employees may try out managerial roles first. If they don’t like those roles afterward, they can return to technical paths. That way, employees do not need to leave their organizations to find their preferred options.
Examples of businesses that offer a dual-track career path include Amazon, Google, Shopify, Mastercard, McKinsey & Company, Remote, and Walmart. The dual-track career path system can be a promising strategy for retaining employees, especially highly technical ones.

Bibliography:
· Callahan, C. (2024). ‘More energized by their work’: How Shopify’s dual-track promotion plan is working out. Work Life Magazine. https://www.worklife.news/leadership/dual-track-promotion/
· Career Insider. (2024, December 10). Implementing Dual Career Ladders for Organizational
Success. Career Insider. https://careerinsider.org/implementing-dual-career-ladders-for-organizational-success/
· Coen, S. (2024, May 17). Want to get ahead but don’t want to manage people? You need a job with dual-track promotion. The Hill. https://thehill.com/lobbying/4668424-want-to-get-ahead-but-dont-want-to-manage-people-you-need-a-job-with-dual-track-promotion/
· Dixon, L. (2024, May 14). Out with the ladder; in with dual-track career paths | Great Workplaces. Rochester Business Journal, 14 May 2024. Gale OneFile: Business. link.gale.com/apps/doc/A794418236/ITBC?u=uphoenix&sid=ebsco&xid=efbeb283.
· Ng, T. W. H., Yim, F. H. K., Chen, H., & Zou, Y. (2024). Employer-sponsored career development practices and employee performance and turnover: A meta-analysis. Journal of Management, 50(2), 685-721. https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/01492063221125143
· Robert Half. (2025, July 1). Non-manager promotions: How companies and employees are
rethinking career growth. Robert Half. https://www.roberthalf.com/us/en/insights/research/non-manager-promotions
· Society for Human Resource Management. (n.d.). How dual career ladders help retain and
develop top talent. Society for Human Resource Management. https://www.shrm.org/topics-tools/tools/hr-answers/career-development-dual-career-ladder