When Career Growth Is a Sham, Women Suffer the Most

The Illusion of Career Growth

Career growth is supposed to feel empowering. But for millions of U.S. workers, it increasingly feels like an illusion. A new survey by MyPerfectResume of 1,000 currently employed adults highlights a growing workplace phenomenon researchers call “ghost growth” — the appearance of advancement that doesn’t come with a raise, promotion or meaningful increase in authority.

Instead of the rewards of progress, workers are often left with more responsibilities, empty promises and rising burnout. For women, the consequences are even more pronounced.

“While both men and women experience ‘ghost growth’ — that sense of career progress that looks good on paper but doesn’t deliver real advancement — women report it slightly more often,” said career expert Jasmine Escalera. “They’re also more likely to feel their professional development is performative, or that they’ve taken on more responsibility without real reward.”

Workers Are Taking on More With Less in Return

The survey reveals just how widespread ghost growth has become. Across all respondents, 78% said they had been assigned new duties without a raise or promotion, and only 15% received a pay increase in the past year that reflected their expanded responsibilities. More than one-third — 35% — said they have never been adequately compensated for an increased workload.

Broken promises are also common. More than half of workers (53%) said they had been promised promotions or professional opportunities that never materialized. Meanwhile, 39% reported taking on extra work in the hope it would lead to advancement but received no recognition, and 31% described the experience as “disappointing.”

For women, the gap between effort and reward is even wider. Nearly half of women (47%) reported taking on new responsibilities without a raise compared to 40% of men. Additionally, only 9% of women received a raise in the past year that reflected their expanding role, while 19% said they had never received one.

Key Gender Insights on ‘Ghost Growth’

• Women are more likely to feel their professional development is performative. 29% of women versus 27% of men said their growth is mostly for show or symbolic.
• Nearly half of women have been assigned new responsibilities without a raise. 47% of women versus 40% of men reported taking on extra work without promotion or pay increase.
• Emotional strain runs higher for women. 23% of women versus 19% of men said stalled growth has left them burned out, and 25% versus 22% said they feel frustrated.
• Women leave (or consider leaving) because growth feels fake. 35% of women versus 32% of men have considered quitting due to performative advancement.
• Recognition gaps persist. 16% of women versus 15% of men said they took on extra work hoping to advance and were disappointed; only 5% of women versus 7% of men say they’ve always been recognized.
• Work-life balance and skill growth matter more to women. 29% of women versus 25% of men list better work-life balance as meaningful growth, and 25% versus 20% prioritize learning new skills.

The Emotional Impact: Frustration, Burnout and Job Hunting

Ghost growth isn’t just a career issue, it’s an emotional one, the survey found. Workers report feeling frustrated, burned out and disengaged. Across all respondents:

• 23% said ghost growth made them feel frustrated.
• 20% said it left them burned out.
• 16% were motivated to begin job hunting.
• 15% felt disengaged.
• 13% felt trapped.

Again, women bear the heavier load. 23% of women versus 19% of men said stalled growth left them burned out, while 25% versus 22% reported frustration. A slightly higher share of women (17% versus 16% of men) said the experience motivated them to look for a new job.

These findings underscore a key truth: When workers internalize the inability to advance as personal failure despite performing at high levels, the result is a toxic feedback loop of stress, self-doubt and overwork.

Performative Development Is Pushing Workers Out the Door

The consequences of ghost growth extend beyond morale: They also drive turnover. The survey found that 68% of workers have considered quitting due to performative advancement, such as promotions without a pay increase. Twenty-seven percent actually left a job for that reason, while 41% stayed but seriously considered quitting.

Women are slightly more likely to leave or contemplate leaving: 35% of women versus 32% of men considered quitting due to performative growth, and 15% of women versus 12% of men actually left. Meanwhile, recognition gaps persist, with only 5% of women saying they had always been recognized for taking on extra work with the hope of advancement, compared with 7% of men.

Pressure to Pretend Growth Is Happening

Beyond workload and emotional strain, ghost growth pressures employees to present a facade of progress. More than half (52%) said they feel compelled to look like they’re growing professionally even when they are not. For 19%, the pressure comes from employers; for 16%, it comes from peers or social media; and 17% feel it from both.

This performative culture can be particularly damaging for women. In a professional environment that often equates visibility with competence, standing still can feel like failure, even when the organization, not the worker, is at fault, experts said.

What Real Growth Looks Like

Survey respondents identified clear, concrete markers of meaningful career growth. Across all workers:

• 27% want higher pay.
• 18% seek better work-life balance.
• 16% prioritize leadership roles or a clear promotion path.
• 15% want opportunities to build new skills.
• Only 8% said autonomy alone is sufficient.

Women placed even greater emphasis on work-life balance and skill development, with 29% of women saying better work-life balance defines meaningful growth and 25% prioritizing learning new skills compared with 25% and 20% of men, respectively.

These results highlight a clear discrepancy: While employees understand what real advancement looks like, organizations often offer symbolic gestures such as inflated titles, empty projects or promises of future opportunity rather than substantive progress.

The Costs of ‘Growth Theater’

Superficial growth may check a box on performance reviews, but it does little to motivate or retain employees. When 65% of workers see through performative development, the cost is both lost trust and lost talent.

For women, the stakes are particularly high. Ghost growth contributes to burnout, disengagement and attrition, creating a barrier to leadership and perpetuating systemic inequities in advancement.

Companies that fail to align career development with compensation, authority and skill-building risk not only losing valuable employees but also undermining broader diversity, equity and inclusion goals, the survey found.

Delivering Real Advancement

The MyPerfectResume survey paints a clear picture: Performative career growth benefits no one. Employers who want to retain their most talented workers — especially women — must stop performing growth and start delivering it. That means providing:

• Transparent promotion paths
• Compensation commensurate with responsibility
• Skill development opportunities
• Respect and recognition for contributions

When organizations align opportunity with reward, employees feel genuinely valued. Careers become empowering, not performative. And the pipeline of women leaders, long stalled by ghost growth, can finally move forward, Escalera said.