The idea that every employee tends to rise to his or her level of incompetence is known as what?

The idea that every employee tends to rise to his or her level of incompetence is known as the Peter Principle. It describes a pattern in hierarchical organizations: people who perform well in one position are promoted until they reach a job whose demands exceed their skills, where they may stop advancing.

Canadian educator Laurence J. Peter developed the concept and presented it with writer Raymond Hull in the 1969 book The Peter Principle. The book was written partly as satire, but its observation about promotions became a widely discussed management idea. Success in one role, such as selling, teaching, or engineering, does not automatically prove competence in a higher role requiring supervision, strategy, or administration.

The principle is often confused with the Dilbert principle, which humorously suggests that organizations promote incompetent employees into management to remove them from productive work. Research has examined versions of Peter’s idea, including whether companies promote high performers into management even when their managerial ability is uncertain.