Summary: A recent survey found that over half of women feel less motivated to pursue promotion than they did two years ago. Rather than suggesting a concerning retreat in ambition, this underlines a longstanding cycle that won’t break without intervention.
The phrase ‘promotion burnout’ has struck a chord with many.
This follows a recent survey by Robert Walters showing that 54 per cent of professional women feel less motivated to pursue promotion than they did two years ago.
It also found that 81 per cent of women felt disadvantaged during promotion cycles. This suggests a worrying retreat in ambition. But is it?
A loss of ambition or a loss of faith?
In my experience, women do not suddenly stop wanting to progress. But they sometimes start asking whether the next step is genuinely attractive and fair.
If the answer is uncertain, opaque or personally costly, motivation drops, understandably.
From an HR perspective, this is significant because it reflects a lack of confidence.
And while confidence matters, confidence alone is not enough if the structure behind promotion is weak.
Breaking the cycle
The property world is not immune: for decades, senior leadership across the sector was overwhelmingly male and consequently succession tended to remain male.
That cycle is now shifting, but it does not break without intervention.
There are many employers making real progress. For example, at LRG, we are not seeing women turn away from progression in the way some of the headline findings suggest.
Only last month, we announced five senior promotions and all five were women. This was not deliberate, or coincidental, but the result of sustained work on culture, structure and visibility.
It was partially because we have been careful not to over-simplify the reasons women may pause before seeking the next step.
Family responsibilities are part of the picture, especially when children are young and the mental load outside work grows heavier.
Menopause can also have a very real effect on confidence and anxiety. Sometimes the issue is not that a woman doubts her ability to do a more senior role but that, at that point in her life, the role looks unattractive.
This feeling is mostly temporary and it does not mean ambition has disappeared. It means employers need to help people stay connected to their long-term prospects, even when their short-term priorities are more complicated.
Confidence matters, confidence alone is not enough if the structure behind promotion is weak
Confidence is not trivial
I believe it’s important to focus on confidence. One of the most striking lessons for me came through our programme of mentoring, roundtables and development sessions that we launched in 2024.
EmpowerHER has covered a wide range of topics aimed at supporting women and when we asked participants which session resonated most, I expected unconscious bias to top the list. Instead, it was confidence and assertiveness.
In one session, we used role play and practical exercises, and what stood out was how quickly some participants would soften a point, apologise unnecessarily or step back from the authority they had clearly earned.
It was a question of habit, conditioning and, in some cases, the residue of workplaces where speaking plainly had not always been rewarded.
So yes, women may need support with confidence. But the question for me is what we do with that insight.
Are we simply teaching women how to cope better in environments that remain uneven, or are we using those sessions to expose what still needs fixing?
The right answer has to be both. Programmes like EmpowerHER should help women build confidence, but they should also tell employers where their culture and structures are falling short.
What better HR practice looks like
If HR leaders accept that promotion burnout is real, there are various tactics that can be put in place to address this.
First, promotion criteria need to be clearer: people should know what ‘good’ looks like, how decisions are made and when opportunities are likely to arise.
At LRG, director promotions are considered at structured points in the year rather than in a reactive way. That brings more transparency, better calibration and more confidence that decisions can be justified fairly.
Second, career paths need to feel real. We promote strongly from within and that means that people can see colleagues progressing and the route feels tangible.
Third, sponsorship matters. Mentoring is valuable, but sponsorship is even better: it is about senior people advocating for talent, opening doors and making sure flexible working or different management styles are not mistaken for lower potential.
Fourth, manager training is essential. A fair process on paper can still fail in practice if line managers are inconsistent, vague or guided by instinct. Better feedback, regular promotion audits and stronger conversations around equality all help here.
Finally, flexibility has to be handled properly. I understand why some women still fear that asking for flexibility will count against them. In some workplaces, that fear is not imagined.
My view is that hybrid working can make progression fairer if it’s applied and managed properly. The danger comes when flexibility is available in policy but penalised in practice. HR needs to watch for that relentlessly.
People should know what ‘good’ looks like, how decisions are made and when opportunities are likely to arise
Leadership responsibility, not a women’s initiative
One thing I feel strongly about is that this cannot sit with women alone. At LRG, all 11 members of our executive team back EmpowerHER, not just the women.
When male senior leaders attend sessions, many come away surprised by the scale of the day-to-day adjustments women still make.
The topic of promotion burnout in this context is useful because it forces the question. Talented women are hesitating at the point of promotion, what is it about the role, the process or the culture that is making that choice feel harder than it should?
For HR leaders, the answer is not to persuade women to want senior roles more badly. It is to build organisations where progression is transparent, supported and compatible with real life.
When that happens, ambition has a much better chance of showing itself.
Actionable insights:
- Make promotion criteria clearer: Your employees should know what ‘good’ looks like and how decisions are made.
- Ensure career paths feel tangible: Does the route look real and attainable?
- Set up sponsorship: While mentoring is valuable, sponsorship is even better.
- Look at your manager training: Is it consistent and clear?
- Ensure you’re handing flexibility fairly: People shouldn’t fear that asking for flexibility will count against them.
If you enjoyed this article, check out: Leaders are burning out: Stop fixing people and start fixing the system
