Career plateau occurs when an employee has reached the highest position or level they can possibly obtain within an organization and have no future prospect of being promoted due to a lack of skills, corporate restructuring, reaching the highest point of the corporate ladder, or other factors.
Reasons for a Career Plateau
- Internal causes - Internal factors for career plateaus can include overconfidence in one's skills or abilities or a loss of confidence brought on by a traumatic life event. A career plateau may cause an employee to lose interest in or feel unchallenged by their work, which managers may interpret as a symptom of demotivation.
- External causes - Achieving a higher level of seniority within a corporation is one example of an external cause for a career plateau. Fewer positions become available for someone as they move up the job ladder. Senior management may have been in place in tiny businesses for a long time with little prospect of turnover.
The main causes, such as the ones identified above, will determine how a career plateau is managed. An employee only needs to look for a new position in a larger market or a new firm with more career chances if they have outgrown their current position or have reached a higher degree of seniority at their current employer but have nowhere else to grow. Otherwise, necessary actions can be taken to overcome the internal factors causing the career plateau.