Let the Hunger Games Begin

By Karen Huang

Dr. Huang is senior director of search assessment for Korn Ferry.

May 30, 2025

I work with a client who has one juicy promotion available for his team this year. It’s a great opportunity: exciting assignments, P&L responsibility, and a big pay boost. The problem is that he has just one promotion for a team of 20, many of whom have not received promotions in years. The manager must pick among all of them, including three who are exceptional. It’s a festival of resentment, and the manager hasn’t even announced his decision yet. The employees are anxious, the manager is stressed—heck, I’m worried on his behalf.

This year, that one promotion really matters to all 20 of his employees, because everywhere they look, there are fewer ways to get ahead, move up, or earn more. Promotions fell by almost a quarter last year from 2022, with just one in 10 employees getting them—most of them in the lower ranks. Salaries are expected to rise 3.9 percent this year, down from 4.4 percent two years ago. And there were 7.7 million US job openings in January, down from 9.2 million openings in 2023. Add in layoffs, and there are simply fewer opportunities to go around.

When opportunities dwindle, employees shift away from a sense of abundance, and a scarcity mindset takes root. This is not a good thing for companies. A scarcity mindset leads employees to behave in ways that are more self-focused and—OK, I’ll say it—navel-gazing. Workers become less generous, because they believe that they need to protect themselves and fight harder for the few scraps still available. Research shows that this leads to poorer performance on teams, as teammates begin to keep their best ideas to themselves, and see coworkers as competitors, not collaborators. They become risk averse, more narrowly focused, and less creative.

It’s easy to not realize how many opportunities exist until half of them suddenly go MIA: perks, prizes, cash awards, special assignments, fellowships, jobs, publication, public recognition. With fewer opportunities, the ones that remain suddenly take on larger meanings, with higher stakes—and can spur jealousy among peers, not to mention fury at managers and leaders.

There is, of course, an upside to scarcity. Millions of people are more grateful than ever this year to have a salaried job, and it’s a wonderful moment to focus on the stability and security that is available. But to get ahead, leaders and their firms need more than gratitude.

There are no perfect solutions—not for this, anyway. But managers can begin by realizing that employees will have heightened feelings and anxieties, and get out ahead of them. This starts with openly acknowledging the situation: Yes, we only have one promotion this year, and that’s not ideal. After the decision drops, managers might take the time to talk to the people who did not get promoted, with a clear rationale for the basis of the decision—and space for feelings to be expressed. And in this environment, the person who did get the promotion needs to be prepared for how to handle their colleagues’ feelings about it.

This is also a great time for leaders and managers alike to invest in other types of growth, such as upskilling, special projects, expanded responsibilities, and lateral moves, as well as in making efforts to really recognize contributions and increased knowledge or performance. My training lies in psychology, so I can tell you that simple attunement is half the job here: We all need to be aware of the friction brewing between the opportunity haves and have-nots, and not judge people for their surges of envy (wanting what someone else has) and jealousy (fear of a rival taking what you have). Remember: When prospects are fewer and farther between, big feelings—especially the ugly ones—emerge where you least expect them. Be ready for them.

Photo Credits: Rob Dobi/Getty Images