
LEGALLY SPEAKING: Quiet Promotion and how to deal with it
Loading player...
Laura Pycraft - Career Coach and Talent Management Expert talks about You May Get A 'Quiet Promotion' And Not Realize Until It's Too Late
There's a difference between a stretch opportunity and this exploitative behavior.
Quiet promotions can lead to quiet quitting. Don't let this happen to you.
If you have ever felt like you are doing work that goes above and beyond your job title, you might have gotten a “quiet promotion.”
They often take place after a company layoff or when a co-worker goes on leave. With your team short-staffed, extra responsibilities and the duties of your departed colleagues may be piled on you without a change in pay or job title. “You do the job of two people for the price of one,” said career strategist Ana Goehner.
Too many of us feel like we’ve been given a quiet promotion. When JobSage surveyed 1,000 full-time U.S. employees in October, three out of four said their workload has increased without additional compensation.
If you keep being asked to do more and be a team player, you could be dealing with a quiet promotion.
Ana Goehner, a career strategist who has been quietly promoted a few times when she worked in corporate jobs, said for her it stemmed from not knowing how to say no to additional work.
“As an over-achiever immigrant, I wanted to be a team player and get things done. I thought a heavy workload was the only way to receive a promotion. I took on backup work from peers, and it became my responsibility. I did more than my colleagues, earned less and kept the same title,” she said. “It took me years to realize that doing the job of two people was unsustainable. I got very sick.”
Goehner said the constant cycle of job-related stress took a toll on her body and mind. She would emotionally eat and sustained back and knee issues, stomach pain and migraines, and she needed physical therapy.
“I felt in a state of fight-or-flight daily,” she noted. “My mental health was affected, and I didn’t know how to relax and get out of that anxious state. I was experiencing burnout, working with therapists and trying my best to keep going.“
“It took me years to realize that doing the job of two people was unsustainable. I got very sick.”
There's a difference between a stretch opportunity and this exploitative behavior.
Quiet promotions can lead to quiet quitting. Don't let this happen to you.
If you have ever felt like you are doing work that goes above and beyond your job title, you might have gotten a “quiet promotion.”
They often take place after a company layoff or when a co-worker goes on leave. With your team short-staffed, extra responsibilities and the duties of your departed colleagues may be piled on you without a change in pay or job title. “You do the job of two people for the price of one,” said career strategist Ana Goehner.
Too many of us feel like we’ve been given a quiet promotion. When JobSage surveyed 1,000 full-time U.S. employees in October, three out of four said their workload has increased without additional compensation.
If you keep being asked to do more and be a team player, you could be dealing with a quiet promotion.
Ana Goehner, a career strategist who has been quietly promoted a few times when she worked in corporate jobs, said for her it stemmed from not knowing how to say no to additional work.
“As an over-achiever immigrant, I wanted to be a team player and get things done. I thought a heavy workload was the only way to receive a promotion. I took on backup work from peers, and it became my responsibility. I did more than my colleagues, earned less and kept the same title,” she said. “It took me years to realize that doing the job of two people was unsustainable. I got very sick.”
Goehner said the constant cycle of job-related stress took a toll on her body and mind. She would emotionally eat and sustained back and knee issues, stomach pain and migraines, and she needed physical therapy.
“I felt in a state of fight-or-flight daily,” she noted. “My mental health was affected, and I didn’t know how to relax and get out of that anxious state. I was experiencing burnout, working with therapists and trying my best to keep going.“
“It took me years to realize that doing the job of two people was unsustainable. I got very sick.”

