Recently, I have observed a trend experienced by others that I would describe as ‘career boxing’. The concept requires employees to stay within their assigned roles while avoiding attention, maintaining order, keeping ambitions in check, and especially disregarding unconventional thinking. The boundaries of the box are usually created through performance metrics, which typically belong to other people like supervisors/managers. The workplace turns into a living hell when you also add a toxic alpha personality or workplace psychopath into the mix. We have all encountered them.
It impacts all levels of employment, from trainees to mature-aged workers and employees from diverse backgrounds. They can find themselves trapped in these restrictive career situations. People who don’t match corporate success standards face greater obstacles due to career boxing constraints, particularly women, mature employees, neurodiverse, disabled workers, and people from racially diverse backgrounds. The latter can be more visible.
Large organisations force these employees into predetermined positions while disregarding their abilities to preserve existing structures. I’ve observed that this is often associated with power hunger in middle management. This concept demands attention on multiple fronts, and I share my thoughts on it.
Understanding Career Boxing
I consider career boxing to be restricting individuals to specific roles, industries, or skill sets based on assumptions rather than actual potential. I understand from a business point of view, a role needs to be carried out. In the modern era, we are encouraged to progress, better ourselves and contribute to society. After a couple of years, it is natural for someone to want to achieve goals and progress. For some people, they are happy to have a steady paycheck or to work on perfecting and developing that role. Not everyone is like that.
Then, there is how someone is perceived by their work history. Rarely is there a consideration to someone looking to switch industries or roles and their transferrable skills. Many are happy to take a step backwards to take two steps forward. Have you ever watched the DeNiro film The Intern?
So it would seem career boxing can occur in multiple ways:
- Industry pigeonholing is the inability to transition into different industries because past experience is seen as limiting rather than transferable.
- Skillset fixation, where employers assume someone is only capable of specific tasks based on past roles.
- Glass ceiling effects, when structural limitations disproportionately affect marginalised groups.
- Credentialism is where there is an overemphasis on specific degrees or certifications rather than experience and ability.
- Ageism and experience trap from being deemed “too experienced” or “too junior” for roles despite clear qualifications.
Career boxing is not merely an oversight in hiring or professional development—it is a systemic issue rooted in outdated corporate hierarchies, implicit biases, and workplace cultures that value conformity over innovation.
The Psychological and Economic Toll
From my observations, the consequences are devastating for those confined to career boxing throughout their professional lives. It also impacts their family and friends, a cultural impact rarely considered. Lack of professional advancement causes financial uncertainty over time, creating ongoing stress and diminished self-esteem. A toxic workplace culture that supports career boxing using microaggressions, exclusion tactics and deliberate gatekeeping leads to an environment that leaves people feeling trapped and helpless.
Employees who face career boxing often experience the following:
- Burnout and disengagement are caused by not being allowed to expand their potential, leading to lower productivity and job satisfaction.
- Erosion of Professional Identity through career boxing forces people to shrink their ambitions, leading to a loss of confidence in their abilities.
- Limited Economic Mobility by being stuck in a narrowly defined role, employees miss opportunities for financial advancement, trapping them in cycles of underemployment.
The Role of Power and Control in Career Boxing
Michel Foucault’s theories on power and knowledge help explain how career boxing operates. Organisations define “valid” expertise in ways that reinforce existing hierarchies, keeping specific individuals in positions of limited influence. Pierre Bourdieu’s concept of capital (economic, social, and cultural) further explains how those with the proper credentials, networks, and cultural fit easily navigate career progression while invisible barriers block others.
At its core, career boxing is about control and power. It limits professional agency and enforces dependency on workplace structures that favour those already in positions of privilege.
Breaking Out of the Box
I may be asking too much; however, dismantling career boxing may require a multi-level approach:
Organisational Change (Difficult)
- Implement skills-based hiring and promotion criteria, reducing reliance on rigid credential requirements. See beyond the resume and personality profiles.
- Encourage cross-functional training and career mobility within companies. Sharing concepts of habitus will help a business flourish and be agile and adaptable.
- Recognise and address implicit biases in hiring and promotion processes. This is one of the problematic points as it is inherently ingrained in our culture at this time.
- Provide leadership opportunities for underrepresented employees. Every employee should be nurtured to be a leader if they desire. It provides opportunities and helps employees understand how their leaders see the world.
Individual Strategies (Medium)
- Build a personal career narrative that emphasises adaptability and transferable skills. These are your goals but be prepared to defend them and challenge anyone who tells you to get back in your box.
- Seek mentorship and sponsorship outside of traditional industry boundaries. Join associations, groups and committees, even if they are virtual.
- Leverage professional networks to create career pathways that defy conventional expectations. These can be difficult to access, especially if you have been career-boxed. Break the rules and reach out.
- Engage in “career hacking”—using side projects, freelance work, or community leadership roles to showcase broader capabilities. If you can get developmental growth at work, find satisfaction elsewhere.
Policy and Advocacy (Mixed)
- Advocate for legislation that supports skills-based hiring. Use LinkedIn or attempt to have open conversations with your people and cultural team (if you have one).
- Push for anti-discrimination policies that specifically address career stagnation due to bias. You have every legal right to call out discrimination in all its forms. Use it to empower your growth if necessary.
- Support initiatives that fund career transitions and upskilling programs for marginalised groups. Again, you may need to look outside your organisation.
Conclusion (for now)
The systemic challenge of Career Boxing blocks innovative thinking while perpetuating workplace inequalities and obstructing employee development opportunities. Career Boxing represents economic and psychological control systems requiring continuous opposition across multiple levels. Individual initiatives combined with organisational transformations and policy amendments are essential steps to break away from career boxing to create work environments that are dynamic and inclusive while ensuring equity.
I’ve come to believe that we must dismantle traditional career frameworks to envision how professional development should function in today’s society.
