Whitepaper
THE BROKEN LADDER
Why people are avoiding manager roles and how to fix it.
Only 18% of employees without management responsibilities see becoming a manager as aspirational and inspirational. More than half the UK workforce - 52% - do not see management as an attractive career path, and a significant proportion are actively avoiding it.
This is not a pipeline problem for the future. It is a performance problem right now. And it starts with the managers organisations already have.
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The research
WHAT THE RESEARCH FOUND
Investors in People surveyed more than 2,000 employees and 500 business decision-makers via YouGov to understand the scale of the reluctant manager problem in the UK, and what is driving it.
The findings are significant for any organisation concerned about leadership pipelines, productivity and retention.
52% of the UK workforce do not see management as an aspirational career path, including people who already hold management responsibilities
Only 18% of employees without management responsibilities see manager roles as aspirational and inspirational
54% of those who do not want to become managers cite too much stress as the primary reason
74% of employees describe middle management as stressful. 51% describe it as high stress, low reward
93% of employees say management is important to their overall job satisfaction, with 59% rating it as very important
43% of UK employees have quit a job because of a bad manager
82% of managers receive no formal training before stepping into a management position
55% of employees said good training and preparation before stepping into management would be the single most effective change organisations could make
Source: Investors in People and YouGov Survey, March 2025.
Inside the report
WHAT IS INSIDE THE REPORT
The Broken Ladder goes beyond the data to examine why management has become so unattractive, what reluctant managers cost organisations, and what the employers getting it right are doing differently.
The report covers:
- Why technical competence is not the same as management capability, and why promoting on technical skill alone is creating a generation of stressed, reluctant managers
- The gender gap in management aspiration: 36% of men see management as aspirational versus 27% of women
- What the 33% of managers who already find management unappealing means for the teams they are leading and for future recruitment into management roles
- The specific changes employees say would make management roles more attractive - ranked and analysed
- Expert perspectives from Professor Sir Cary Cooper, Ann Francke of the CMI, and leadership specialist Blaire Palmer
- Practical recommendations from Investors in People practitioners on how to develop and sustain better managers
- Case studies from Henderson Retail, Horizon Healthcare Homes and John Sisk and Son on what investing in manager development actually looks like in practice.
Methodology
ABOUT THIS RESEARCH
The Broken Ladder was researched by YouGov for Investors in People. Expert contributors include Professor Sir Cary Cooper, 50th Anniversary Professor of Organizational Psychology and Health at Manchester Business School, and Ann Francke, Chief Executive of the Chartered Management Institute.
Investors in People has been independently assessing how organisations lead, support and develop their people for over 35 years, working with more than 59,000 organisations worldwide.
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