Be intentional in choosing NPTs that are best for you. Some non-promotable tasks can help you later. We call these tasks indirectly promotable — they might help you gain knowledge, develop skills, or connections that you can leverage later on. Other NPTs are attractive because they align with your personal mission, like advancing diversity, equity,... See more

The next time you are asked to volunteer, ask yourself if doing this task is the best use of your time. If the answer is no, then sit back and let someone else come forward, or better yet, propose that the task be randomly assigned, or that everyone takes turns doing the work.

Less visible tasks tend to be non-promotable because other people cannot see your efforts or impact.

We found that, independent of rank, the median female employee spent 200 more hours per year on non-promotable work than her male counterparts. To put that into perspective: Women spent an additional month on dead-end assignments.