Lily Pad Careers: Why Gen Z Is Ditching the Traditional Corporate Ladder

For many years, the recipe for professional success was simple: climb the ladder. Choose a company, demonstrate your ability, get promoted and then repeat. Work your way up the corporate ladder. Get a corner office. This was the script that previous generations followed during their careers.

However, Gen Z is not following that script anymore.

In fact, young employees choose to move through what is termed a lily pad career – a profoundly different method of building a professional life. That is to say, rather than advancing a single ladder linearly, they are making jumps from one position to another and finding the job that fits their needs at that moment.

On the face of it, it may just sound like a minute difference, but in reality, it is a major shift in the attitude of an entire generation towards work and success.

The Death of the Corporate Ladder

According to a Glassdoor report, Gen Z is rejecting linear advancement in favour of the career lily pad model. The research, based on over 1,000 U.S. professionals, paints a clear picture: Gen Z isn’t interested in climbing a rigid hierarchy just for the sake of it.

The numbers make it clear. About 68% of Gen Z workers say they would take on a management role only if it comes with better pay or a stronger title. That’s a sharp shift from millennials and older generations, many of whom treated management as the goal itself. For Gen Z, climbing the ladder doesn’t automatically mean making progress.

Daniel Zhao, chief economist at Glassdoor, puts it simply: Gen Z isn’t turning away from ambition. They’re reshaping it around careers that feel sustainable and still pay the bills. This difference matters. It’s not about avoiding hard work or responsibility. It’s about redefining success on their own terms.

What Is Career Minimalism?

The lily pad approach exists within a broader concept called “career minimalism.” Younger workers see their jobs as a means to financial stability, saving real passion and ambition for hours off the clock and increasingly lucrative side hustles.

That doesn’t sound ambitious at first—but the data suggests otherwise. 57% of Gen Z employees have at least one side hustle, more than any generation before them. And they’re not doing it just for money. Nearly half of Gen Z side hustlers say their primary motivation is to be their own boss, while 42% are driven by the desire to pursue their passions.

The picture becomes clearer: Gen Z wants a stable day job that funds their life, not consumes it. The real drive, creativity, and passion get channelled into projects they actually own.

Why They’re Jumping

Several forces are driving this shift, and understanding them matters.

First, there’s the reality of the job market. 70% of Gen Z employees say AI has made them question their job security. When you can’t guarantee loyalty will pay off, why stay in one place? Staying flexible makes more sense than staying put. Many are proactively moving toward sectors like skilled trades, healthcare, and education, where they perceive more stability against automation.

Second, the old promises have been broken. The traditional corporate ladder came with an implicit deal: trade long-term loyalty for pensions, stability, and prestige. That deal isn’t on the table anymore. Gen Z watched previous generations work for decades at single companies and get laid off anyway, or stay put while their skills became outdated.

Third, and maybe most importantly, Gen Z simply has different priorities. Work doesn’t have to be your entire identity. A paycheck doesn’t have to come with the expectation that you’ll sacrifice work-life balance or personal fulfilment.

What Lily Pad Careers Look Like

The lily pad approach means being strategic about your moves. Instead of asking “How do I get promoted here?”, it’s asking “Where should I jump next?”

That might mean moving laterally into a different role for better creative fulfilment. It could look like moving to a different industry because it fits your values better. It could also mean accepting lower pay in exchange for flexibility, or walking away from a big-name company to join a smaller one where your work feels more meaningful.

This “lily pad” mindset moves away from the idea of staying put and climbing one ladder. Instead, it’s about making thoughtful jumps between roles that support a steady income, a life outside work, and time for what truly matters.

Is This Actually Smart?

The criticism is predictable. Older generations might see this as flighty or unfocused. But the research suggests otherwise. Career minimalism provides more security, flexibility and fulfilment—and it protects against skill obsolescence as industries rapidly change. By broadening experience across multiple roles and companies, workers become more adaptable, not less.

Beyond that, there’s the simple human factor. Management is increasingly being understood as something that requires work-life balance, not something that comes without it. Gen Z managers themselves expect boundaries and sustainability.

As the workplace evolves, this approach isn’t limited to one generation anymore. Millennials, Gen X, and Baby Boomers are adopting career minimalism too, rethinking what actually motivates them beyond titles and promotions.

The Bottom Line

The career lily pad isn’t about rejecting work or ambition. It’s about questioning the shape that ambition should take. Why spend your twenties, thirties, and beyond climbing someone else’s ladder when you could be jumping to places that actually fit your life?

For Gen Z, that question has a clear answer. And the corner office view? They’re not interested.

They’ve found something that fits better: a career that works for them, not the other way around.