What Can You Do When a Top Performer Hits the Org Chart Ceiling?

High performers are instrumental to an organization’s success: They’re talented, they’re driven and they deliver.

But when those individuals have reached the top of their segment of the organizational chart, and there’s nowhere to promote them — either temporarily or permanently — companies can find themselves in a pickle. How do you engage and retain such high-impact employees?

High performers feed into the “80/20 Rule” — the phenomenon that describes the 20% of employees that deliver 80% of organizational performance, said Anthony Klotz, a professor of organizational behavior at the University College London School of Management and the author of the book Jolted: Why We Quit, When to Stay, and Why It Matters. When you’re talking about high performers with no imminent promotion prospects, it’s those 20% who are impacted, he said.

“High performers invest high levels of energy and high levels of talent into the organization, and they expect a return,” Klotz said. “In cases where there are mismatches in investment, where employees feel like they’re over-investing compared to what they’re getting back from the company — as human beings, we adjust in that situation. We either disengage, put less effort into our work and invest it in other parts of our lives, or we look for the exit door.”

That should set off alarms for businesses. Retaining high-potential talent is much less costly than replacing those workers, and the scenario can impact team morale. As Alicia Scott-Wears, a content director at WorldatWork, aptly put it, “A stagnant org chart shouldn’t translate to a stagnant workforce.”

Access a bonus Workspan Daily Plus+ article on this subject:

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In addition, losing high performers can damage an organization’s institutional knowledge and internal succession pipelines, said Dan Schawbel, the managing partner of research agency Workplace Intelligence.

“It also signals to others that their professional growth requires leaving the company,” he added. “If this happens to one employee, other employees will notice and wonder, ‘Could this happen to me?’ It has a cascading effect.”

What’s Driving the Promotion Bottleneck

Why are companies running into this narrative? Experts pointed to a number of factors:

• A slowdown in both layoffs and hiring as the market emerges from both the “Great Resignation” and “Great Reshuffle” following the COVID-19 pandemic.
• High marketplace visibility for layoffs that are taking place, even if they aren’t actually numerous, creating the impression that employers are correcting for post-pandemic over-hiring.
• Uncertainty about the future impact of artificial intelligence (AI) on the workplace, prompting many organizations and employees to hold the line when it comes to talent movement, even as they establish new skills expectations for existing roles.
• Organizational flattening and shifts in managerial hierarchies.
• “Job-hugging” by top leaders in the face of economic and market uncertainty, impeding movement opportunities for high performers directly beneath them.

Some of the same factors inhibiting promotion opportunities may be contributing to high performers’ willingness to stay put, for now — but companies shouldn’t be lulled into complacency by that reality, Schawbel warned.

“Even for high performers, there’s still more people than jobs, especially in certain sectors, so knowing the job market, they may be less likely to move right now,” he said. “But in the back of their head, they know their time might be limited at the company, so when the job market does change, they’re more likely to leave. It’s harder for organizations to plan around that, because they may not realize what the drop-off could be in one to five years.”

An HR Tool to Wield: Career Development

When the two most obvious vehicles to reward and motivate high performers (a promotion or a raise) are off the table, Klotz said the task of retaining an organization’s most high-potential talent — a challenge even on the best day — becomes that much harder to execute.

In those cases, identify avenues to support those employees’ professional growth and career development — in ways that resonate with them.

Options may include stretch assignments, mentoring opportunities, project-based leadership opportunities, cross-functional assignments, and access to advisory councils or industry leadership roles.

Using internal talent marketplaces isn’t a new concept, pointed out Schawbel, who noted that organizations such as Unilever, Schneider Electric, Intel and IBM have utilized these models for some time. But in light of today’s landscape of AI upheaval, skills evolution and organizational shifts, he added having a robust framework matching employees to tailored projects or skill development is all the more relevant.

“The internal marketplace continues to be really smart, and it’s a way to keep talent,” Schawbel said. “The idea of skill visibility and recognition will continue to be more important, defining growth beyond just hierarchy.”

Determine measurable ways to assess the success of these efforts, noted Klotz — even if it’s as rudimentary as interviewing the employee prior to starting a new project or initiative, partway through, and again at the end.

“Really try to hold yourself accountable and say, ‘This is a bit of a scientific endeavor, and we want to try to measure success,’” he said. “The improvement isn’t just if you retained the person, but what they actually accomplished — and then you can celebrate that with them.”

While it brings challenges, don’t think of this situation as a negative; lean into the silver linings, suggested Scott-Wears.

“Moments without a clear promotion on the horizon can actually be the ideal time to grant people more grace and creative freedom,” she said. “When employees aren’t chasing the next title, they may feel more open to experimentation and risk-taking, given the right environment. Giving them space to test ideas, think more boldly and even fail safely can unlock innovation that doesn’t surface when the stakes feel rigid. It’s a chance to signal that growth isn’t just about moving up; it also can be about discovering new horizons.”

Editor’s Note: Additional Content

For more information and resources related to this article, see the pages below, which offer quick access to all WorldatWork content on these topics:

• Career Growth
• Employee Experience
• Employee Recognition
• Workforce Engagement