Job Ladders Are Not a Stairway to Heaven
When anxiety rises, out come the ladders
Welcome to Frank Takeaways. I'm Frank, writing the notes worth keeping from decades at companies like Slack, Etsy, and Google. I run a coaching practice dedicated to guiding leaders through the tricky stuff of building products and high-performing teams.
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Every company eventually turns to job ladders as their organizational salvation. It's tech's favorite band-aid — whipped out the moment growth slows, anxiety rises, or structure feels needed.
In my years leading product teams and now as a coach, I've watched this pattern repeat endlessly. Yes, you'll eventually need job ladders — they serve a purpose. But first, we need to understand why we reach for them so quickly, and what we're really trying to solve.
Jockeying for Position
When employees ask for job ladders, it doesn't happen in a vacuum. Think about it: when was the last time you or your reports asked for job ladders (or an update to them)? What else was happening in the company at that time? The market? The industry?
When do race cars jockey for position? When they slow down heading into a turn. The same thing happens in careers — when growth slows, people start worrying about job ladders. During boom times, no one has time to obsess over levels. But when the pace changes, everyone suddenly wants to know where they stand.
This heightened focus on titles and levels often masks deeper anxieties about job security and career progression. During uncertain times, employees naturally seek concrete ways to measure their worth and validate their position. But implementing job ladders as a reactive measure rarely addresses the root causes of organizational instability. Instead, companies should focus on creating genuine growth opportunities, fostering transparent communication, and building a culture where advancement isn't solely tied to arbitrary hierarchical structures.
Growing Up
There's another moment when job ladder anxiety spikes: when a company starts "growing up." You know the phase — when the board brings in "adult supervision," when VPs from big tech companies arrive to "add structure," when the original team starts hearing they need "more process" and "proper management layers."
It's in these moments that the earlier employees, the ones who built the company to its current success, suddenly become fascinated with job ladders. But here's what they're really saying: "We ran this place just fine before all these layers arrived. We know what we're doing. We deserve recognition for that."
Like Springsteen sang in "Growin' Up": "I swear I found the key to the universe in the engine of an old parked car." The team is saying exactly that — they already found the key, and they built the company without ladders. Now they're being asked to climb someone else's.
The Manager’s Security Blanket
Here's a telling question: When do managers actually feel the need to put pen to paper on a job ladder document? Almost never with their high performers. Rarely with their steady, reliable team members. No — job ladders emerge primarily in two uncomfortable scenarios: with under-performers who need a "clear path forward," and with the overeager who need to be "reminded of the requirements."
In other words, managers aren't using job ladders to set expectations — they're using them to avoid difficult conversations. It's much easier to email someone a ladder document than to say "you're not ready" or "you're not meeting our bar." But a PDF can't have the crucial conversation that actually needs to happen.
Recently, I coached a product leader new to their role. Their first instinct? Create job ladders to assess the team. It's a reasonable impulse when you're new — documenting expectations feels safer than delivering them face-to-face. Job ladders can be a good first step to organize your thoughts, but they won't drive the change you want. The real work begins with honest, human-to-human discussions.
The Ladder You Actually Need
Let's be clear: job ladders aren't pointless. They're just not magic. Think of them like a good meeting agenda — useful as a framework, dangerous if treated as a substitute for actual leadership.
Here’s how to build ladders that help rather than hide:
Make them value-driven: Your ladder should reflect what your company genuinely values in each role. Senior engineers at Stripe look different from senior engineers at Netflix — and that's okay.
Treat them like product development: Timebox the effort, ship v1, and iterate based on real usage. Perfect ladders are less useful than timely ones.
Know when you don't need them: If you're under 100 people and suddenly craving ladders, stop and ask what's really driving that urge.
Write for clarity, not comfort: Vague language like "demonstrates leadership" or "shows initiative" just creates confusion. Be specific about what excellence looks like.
Evolve them intentionally: Your company changes; your ladders should too. But update them because your needs changed, not because people are getting antsy about titles.
Most importantly, remember this: the best job ladder in the world can't replace a manager willing to have honest conversations or a company culture that genuinely values growth over titles.
Beyond the Ladder
Here's the thing about real growth: it doesn't care about your ladder. It shows up in how people navigate ambiguity, expand their influence, and become the go-to experts others seek out. These dimensions of growth deserve their own exploration, but they point to something crucial: the best people don't just climb predetermined rungs — they redefine what climbing means.
The next time someone in your organization starts clamoring for updated job ladders, ask yourself: What's really driving that request? Are we using ladders as a tool for growth, or as a substitute for the harder conversations we need to have?
Because at the end of the day, the best companies don't build taller ladders — they build better climbers.