corporate ladder

American  

noun

1. the hierarchical order of position, title, or rank, as in a large corporation.

   to work one's way up the corporate ladder.

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Example Sentences

Many pandemic-era efforts to help Black women and other minority groups advance up the corporate ladder have fallen away as companies have retreated from diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives.

From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 15, 2026

But AI’s advance has raised bigger questions about what company org charts might look like in the future, and how mid-level, mid-career employees might move up the corporate ladder.

From MarketWatch • Feb. 1, 2026

"By the end of it, I really felt like I'd worked an office job and climbed the corporate ladder," Turner says.

From BBC • Jan. 20, 2026

If you're considering leaving your current employer to start your own business, for example, the years spent climbing the corporate ladder are not necessarily wasted.

From Salon • Dec. 15, 2024

He also believes that employees further up the corporate ladder cheat more than those down below.

From "Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything" by Steven D. Levitt

Related Words

• food chain
• hierarchy
• power structure
• social structure