Only 6% of Gen Z want to be bosses, threatening Europe's leadership pipeline
A growing reluctance among young workers to take on management positions threatens to undermine organisational efficiency across Europe as the continent's workforce shrinks.
Only around 6% of Generation Z globally aspire to senior management positions, a shift that risks leaving European businesses without the leaders needed to maintain organisational efficiency. According to Tomasz Szklarski, CEO of workplace engagement firm Enpulse, this dramatic drop in ambition represents a major structural problem for companies.
For Generation Z, career success is no longer defined by climbing the corporate ladder. Young workers are instead prioritising work-life balance over the greater responsibilities and longer hours that come with promotion. This reluctance is largely driven by the changing, increasingly demanding nature of the managerial role itself.
In recent years, the average number of employees reporting to a single manager has doubled from roughly six to twelve. This expansion has transformed middle management into a high-pressure bottleneck. Managers are now squeezed between demands from senior executives to hit business targets and the expectation to provide constant support for the development, motivation and wellbeing of much larger teams.
Young workers have simply done the maths on the modern workplace. “Generation Z has carefully weighed what work-life balance means against the sacrifices required to become a boss. Young people can clearly see the burden that comes with management. A manager is accountable both to their superiors and for increasingly large teams that require constant support,” Szklarski said.
A demographic compounding effect
While this leadership vacuum is a global trend, the economic consequences are set to be most severe in Europe. The continent is already grappling with a shrinking pool of workers due to long-term demographic shifts. If businesses fail to actively train a new generation of managers, maintaining basic organisational effectiveness will become significantly harder as the labour market contracts.
The shrinking labour market makes proactive leadership development essential. “There will be fewer and fewer people working, especially in Europe. If we do not train a new generation of managers and prepare people to take responsibility for teams, we will face growing challenges in maintaining organisational efficiency,” Szklarski warned.
Technology is unlikely to bridge this leadership gap. Although artificial intelligence is automating an increasing number of business processes, Szklarski notes it cannot replace human managers. It remains unclear whether employees would accept taking instructions from algorithms. Leading teams still requires skills that are difficult to automate, including empathy, relationship-building, motivating staff and making decisions that account for the human side of a business.
