Should you Always Accept a Promotion
No promotion is mandatory! You are under no obligation to accept all promotions that are given to you. While it is unusual, declining a promotion is very normal and part of the career path. As such feel no pressure or guilt.
You have the liberty to assess and evaluate each promotion before you decide if to decline or accept the offer. Only accept the promotions that are serving you and meeting your needs. Reject everything else. No employer will force you to accept and work on a promotion that you do not want.
It is very professional to only accept that you want and decline those you feel are not in line with your goals. It is not disrespectful to your employer since you also need to consider the interests of your company and your career goals as well.
Some of the promotions offers that you should decline are;
- Promotions without a pay rise (dry promotions)
- Promotions with too much work pressure
- Promotions taking too much of your time hence no work life balance
- Promotion not aligned to your career goals
- Promotions you personally feel you are not ready for
Turn down all such promotions because they will make your job unhappy. Just decline by stating the reasons why you think the promotion is not well suited for you, at least at the moment. You will not lose your job for this.
Read: How to Reject a Extra Work without Promotion and/or Raise
Revealed: Top Reasons why People Decline Promotion
Most working moms dream of getting promoted at work. It shows that your work is being recognized and your career progression is going well. Further the new role will come with additional pay and benefits but albeit with more work.
Despite all these, promotions are not always a good thing. Some working moms would consider declining a promotion for several things;
1. If There Is No Matching Pay Rise
At no point should you accept a promotion that does not come with additional pay. In most cases, accepting promotion will mean more duties. You will be in a more senior title than before but also handling extra responsibilities.
So you should get compensated for taking in more work. A promotion without a pay increase cannot be called a promotion.It is disrespectful of your employer to add you more role without compensation. If you are experienced enough to take on the additional work, then you are experienced enough to get a raise for the additional work.
However, getting any pay rise does not mean you can accept the promotion. The rise need to match the extra duties. It should be worth the extra effort and time that you going to put in under the role. Always see what the turnover is for the position offered.
For instance, do not take a 10% salary increase where the new tasks and responsibilities that come with the new roles you are promoted into demand much more than this. If you feel the pay rise is too little compared to additional work that you are going to do, decline the promotion.
You wont get fired for this. A good employer would not give you a role without allocating budget for your additional pay increase. They have no leverage in adding you more roles with more compensation for them.
2. If it Offset Work-Life Balance
Because of the work involved as you go up in your career, you will be required to work harder and longer after getting a promotion. If the promotion is offsetting your work-life balance, it is a valid reason to decline it.Your employer cant take your current job because of rejecting a job that is balancing your life.
You will realize that the new role you are being promoted to require you to work longer hours than your juniors, be available at any time of the day for emergencies and even work during holidays to keep the company afloat.
Do not accept a promotion that you know will deny you any time and energy for yourself, your friends, and your family. If the new title you are getting requires you to spend all your time at the office and leave none for your children, then the promotion is not worth it.
Therefore you should really think about the impact that the new promotion has on your work-life balance. If you see a negative impact on your life, then do not accept this promotion, even if it comes with better pay. Employees who don’t want to be promoted because of this value the quality of their lives more than the money.
Read: How to Balance Work and Career
3. If not Aligned With Your Career Goals
Another reason to reject a promotion is if it is not aligning with your career goals. Do not accept a promotion merely because it is a promotion. If it is not part of your career growth and development journey then reject it.
Some employers are known to promote people by moving them across departments. You may hence find that your new position after the promotion is totally different from what you normally do.
It is not worth accepting a promotion that is not moving where you want your career to go. If you do not want to change your career path, then decline this promotion. You would rather stay at your old position as long as it aligns with your career goals.
Simply say as you decline the promotion is that the new position is not the direction you wish to take. A misaligned promotion will only drag you behind unnecessarily hence not worth your time. Just tell your boss that you’re not interested in taking your career in that direction right now.
Read: A Guide to Creating your Career Plan
4. If the Workload is not Manageable
Even if you are being compensated for the additional work you are taking after promotion, make sure it is manageable. Many working moms love and take on the work of a promotion as a challenge and are willing to do all it takes to show they are capable.
But you can only do so much and no promotion or title is worth your health when you cannot manage it. If you feel that the workload is too much, decline that promotion.
There’s a value to your time and the amount of mental stress you should be willing to accept. A workload that is unmanageable will be too hard for you, affecting your health as it will lead to burnout.
If the work you do at your current position is manageable then stick to it and only add more periodically as you assess your appetite for work.You do not want to risk your health in the name of promotion so you would rather reject the new position.
5. Don’t Accept A Promotion If You Doubt Your Capabilities
Confidence and having the right skills in your work are very important in your delivery. If you don’t feel confident in your abilities in delivering at work, your performance will be affected. Therefore if your skills are lacking and not on equal the new role, reject that promotion.
Consider that taking on a role that you are not ready for may end up breaking you. A poor performance from your end may result in demotion or even worse getting fired. For instance declining a leadership position is important if you know you will not be able to lead the team.
While the challenge may be good, do not take a promotion yet that you feel you will not be good at the time. Focus on working on yourself and building your skills until you are ready to take on a new role.
Read: What to do When you Doubt your Worth
How to Politely Decline a Promotion without Losing your Job
The best way to professionally and politely but firmly decline a promotion is to write a promotion decline letter to your HR or manager. With this, the employer will not have grounds to fire you.
In the letter include the following details
- Appreciate the company for their gesture of the promotion and belief in you
- Illustrate that you think the new promotion is not a match for you
- Cite your reasons to decline the promotion such as family needing your time, or promotion not working along your career or not getting a raise among others.
- Show how valuable you are in your current role.
- Also, give a recommendation for somebody else and say how happy you would be to work together.
Tell them in the promotion decline letter politely that you’re happy with your current role and be specific about the parts of the job you like and what you’d miss if you were to work in the new role. The focus of the promotion decline letter is to show HR and your manager why your current position is more suited for you than the new role you are being promoted into.
Including these details in your letter will preserve your current role despite declining the promotion. As long as you remain professional and polite when talking about your career goals, and can articulate why it’s better for everyone that you remain on your desired track, then it is should go well for you.
What Happens when you Decline a Promotion
Consider that your refusal of promotion may end in several ways. What happens when you decline a promotion is that your employer may either be threatened by your audacity or be respectful of your decision.
- Your employer may hence decide to keep you in your current role as per your promotion decline letter.
- Some employers may demote you for this. An employer may decide to lower you further from your current position as a form of punishing you. As such be wary that even if you may not lose your job, you may get demoted for rejecting a promotion.
- You may be fired on the grounds of refusing the promotion. Therefore you must be ready to leave and look for another job where your work will be more appreciated and compensated.
Alternatively you may decide to both decline the offer and resign from your position . Even if many people may think is weird, it is not unusual to decline a promotion and quit soon after. You are in your right to walk from a position and by extension a company that you feel is not helping you move in the direction of your career or is creating barriers.
