ORLANDO, Fla. — A new survey suggests some Florida workers are becoming more selective about career advancement, especially when promotions come with more stress, longer hours or workplace monitoring.
Careerminds, a career development and outplacement firm, said it surveyed 3,017 workers nationwide about what it called “promotion pushback,” or employees turning down promotions because the trade-offs do not feel worth it.
According to information provided with the survey, 37% of Florida workers who were offered a promotion in the past year turned it down.
Careerminds estimated that equals about 189,811 Florida employees.
The survey also found nearly half of respondents said they would be less likely to accept a promotion if the new role came with more AI-driven performance tracking or productivity monitoring.
Nationally, workers cited work-life balance as the top reason for rejecting or considering rejecting a promotion.
According to the survey, 23% of respondents said they were happy with their current work-life balance and did not want to disrupt it.
Other common reasons included concerns that the pay increase would not be worth the extra responsibility, not wanting more stress, not wanting longer hours and not wanting to manage other people.
The survey also found that more than half of respondents said they would need a raise of at least 20% to seriously consider accepting a more stressful role.
Careerminds said more than a third of respondents had accepted a promotion in the past and later regretted it.
The company said the survey was conducted online in May 2026 and balanced across age, gender, industry, employment status and geography to reflect the U.S. workforce.
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