She 'Showed Up Late, Left Early, Sometimes Wore Sweatpants,' But Still Got Promoted To A Branch Manager In A Year. 'How Are They Doing It?'
A frustrated insurance manager recounted in a recent Reddit post how a friend working at a bank watched a new hire defy every workplace norm: “Showed up late, left early, sometimes wore sweatpants (basically all fireable offenses for everyone else), and mostly skipped or avoided responsibilities.”
“She was promoted to ‘senior banker’ and then to assistant manager in six months,” the post read. “She underperformed and caused problems with her lack of expertise and bad attitude, but was rapidly promoted yet again to branch manager.” This was despite the presence of more experienced and capable employees who were passed over. As the original poster put it: “How are they doing it?”
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Why Some Mediocre Employees Keep Climbing
The Redditor added that this wasn’t a one-off. They’ve seen the same pattern play out across multiple large companies: underwhelming employees seemingly “failing upward,” leapfrogging more qualified colleagues. The thread got hundreds of replies from workers in education, finance, construction, tech, and government.
The reasons are complex, but they echo a common sentiment: promotions often have more to do with perception, politics and personal connections than actual performance.
“They're nice to the people that make decisions,” one person wrote. Others agreed, saying these employees may look incompetent to peers, but “they know how to sweet-talk the right people.”
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Many shared examples of unremarkable coworkers who expertly managed upward relationships. “I have a peer who comes across as dramatic, emotional, incompetent, and overall a bad attitude,” one commenter said. “I discovered this week that they put on a completely different personality with people above them. It doesn't matter what your peers think if leadership likes you.”
Hard Workers Often Get Stuck
Several responses pointed to an uncomfortable truth: high performers frequently stay stuck because their departments rely on them. “Reliable and hard working will get you stuck right where you're at,” one said. “We can't afford to move you.”
Another called it “Shawshank Syndrome,” a reference to the character in “The Shawshank Redemption” movie whose usefulness to prison management kept him from getting paroled.
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