Do Your Employees Have to Leave to Get Ahead?

An employee wants to earn more, learn something new, or take on greater responsibility. Can they do that at your company, or do they have to leave?

That's a question worth asking as new research from Robert Half shows more younger employees are considering a move. In a survey of more than 440 Gen Z professionals, 55% said they planned to look for a new job before the end of 2026. Among those looking, half said their opportunities for career advancement were limited, while 53% believed changing employers could increase their earning potential.

It's easy to look at numbers like these and conclude that Gen Z simply changes jobs more often. But there's a more useful question for employers: What happens when a good employee is ready for more and there isn't an obvious next position to offer them?

Career Growth Doesn't Have to Mean a Promotion

This can be particularly challenging for smaller businesses. If you have 30 employees, you simply don't have the same number of management positions or layers of advancement as a company with 3,000 employees.

That doesn't mean employees have to stand still until a position opens up however.

Someone might take ownership of a larger client or project, learn another part of the business, develop expertise the company needs, mentor newer employees, or take responsibility for something previously handled by a manager.

The opportunity doesn't always need a new title attached to it. What really matters is that a good employee can continue building skills, responsibility, and value rather than doing essentially the same job year after year.

Find Out Who Is Ready for More

Too often, the first serious conversation about an employee's future happens after they've accepted another job, when it’s far too late.

Managers don't need to promise promotions that don't exist. They should, however, know which employees are interested in doing more and what they're capable of taking on.

That requires better conversations than just asking where someone sees themselves in five years.

What would they like to learn? Which parts of the business interest them? Are there responsibilities they're ready to take on? What skills would they need before they could handle them successfully?

You may discover that someone on your team wants to learn a skill you'll need next year. An employee you hadn't considered for leadership may be interested in taking on more responsibility. Or someone may already be doing work beyond the position you originally hired them to perform - this needs noticing.

You won't be able to create the opportunity every employee wants, but you should know where the potential exists.

Connect Employee Growth to What the Business Needs Next

This is where career development becomes more than an employee benefit.

Think about what your business is likely to need over the next year or two. Are you planning to grow? Is a longtime manager likely to retire? Are you introducing new technology? Do you have important knowledge concentrated in one employee? Is there a part of the business where you continually struggle to find experienced people?

Then look at the people you already have.

Who could learn that skill? Who might be capable of leading that team someday? Who needs more exposure to an important client or process? Where could cross-training give you another person capable of stepping in?

Those decisions give employees opportunities to grow while making the business less dependent on finding the right person externally every time something changes. A win-win.

Don't Make Resignation the Trigger

Career progression and compensation will often intersect. If someone's skills, responsibilities, and contribution have grown substantially, their role and compensation may eventually need to reflect that.

What employers want to avoid is recognizing that growth only after the employee resigns.

If the first discussion about a new title, greater responsibility, or meaningful pay adjustment happens when you're trying to make a counteroffer, the opportunity to have that conversation earlier has already been missed.

Give Good Employees Somewhere to Go

Not every ambitious employee will stay - sometimes another company can offer an opportunity you simply can't, and that's part of running a business.

But smaller employers shouldn't assume that limited management positions mean limited career opportunities.

You can give people room to develop while also preparing your company for what’s around the corner. The starting point is knowing where the business is going, knowing who on your team has the ability and interest to grow with it, and deliberately bringing those two things together.

Because if the only way someone can take the next meaningful step in their career is to change employers, leaving eventually becomes part of their career plan.

You can read more about the findings in Robert Half's 2026 Gen Z research.