Chris Kempczinski, the Chief Executive Officer of McDonald's, recently issued a straightforward reminder to workers regarding their career advancement in the contemporary labor market. Sharing a video clip on Instagram, he urged employees to reconsider conventional expectations about employer responsibility for their professional growth. He underscored that the longstanding notion of an implicit "employment deal" guaranteeing steady career progression no longer holds true in many industries. Kempczinski prefaced his remarks by acknowledging that the message could be uncomfortable, but framed it as pragmatic advice rather than criticism.
Kempczinski distilled his perspective to a simple truth: "Nobody cares about your career as much as you do." He warned that employees might be misguided if they depend on others to create opportunities on their behalf. Instead, he insisted that the primary agent of career development must be the individual worker, taking ownership and initiative for their own advancement. While acknowledging that opportunities might be facilitated by others, he emphasized that actual progress requires proactive engagement rather than passively waiting for direction.
This message comes amid an evolving employment landscape where traditional career trajectories have become less predictable and more fragmented across sectors. Gallup's "American Job Quality Study," which surveyed over 18,000 U.S. workers and was released on October 15, found that roughly one in four employees reported insufficient opportunities for career advancement within their current roles.
Compounding this challenge, projections suggest that job growth may decelerate further into 2026 amidst mounting uncertainties. Contributing factors cited include tariff pressures and a cautious stance adopted by employers in the labor market, according to analyses from Investopedia.
In this shifting environment, collective bargaining by labor unions emerges as a significant exception to the erosion of traditional employment agreements. Union contracts still formalize conditions that workers can rely on, including negotiated wage structures and job security provisions that provide much-needed certainty where individual arrangements no longer suffice.
For instance, the United Auto Workers union recently ratified a five-year labor agreement on September 19 covering employees at General Electric Aerospace facilities located in Ohio and Kentucky. This agreement followed a separate four-year contract ratified earlier by the International Union of Electronic, Electrical, Salaried, Machine and Furniture Workers-CWA (IUE-CWA), resulting in dual union contracts that now govern the workforce at GE Aerospace.
This labor contract was negotiated following a strike and includes clearly defined wage progression tied to tenure as well as protections for employment continuity, offering a structured roadmap for advancement that contrasts with the growing ambiguity elsewhere in the job market.
Similarly, Boeing defense workers based in the St. Louis area finalized a five-year contract on November 13, concluding a strike that began in August. Key elements of this agreement include a $6,000 ratification bonus and planned wage increases totaling approximately 24% over the life of the contract. These benefits were detailed in union disclosures, highlighting a negotiated improvement in compensation and security for these unionized workers.
These examples underscore the divergence between unionized and non-unionized sectors in terms of career and compensation structures. While labor unions continue to secure formalized terms through collective bargaining, many workers outside such arrangements are witnessing more diffuse and uncertain employment dynamics.
Kempczinski's admonition for employees to take charge of their own career paths rings especially prescient against this backdrop of diminishing traditional "employment deals". His call for self-advocacy and initiative mirrors the realities of a labor market where structured progression must increasingly be carved out by the worker rather than granted by the employer.
In summation, the evolving employment landscape challenges workers to reframe career ownership from expecting guaranteed advancement to actively shaping their own professional development within a more fluid and less assured system. Meanwhile, unionized workforces continue to leverage collective negotiations as a counterbalance, securing structured agreements that provide defined career progression and compensation clarity.