Then again, this person's job is to focus on their career. Their manager told them

> Because… some lack business value. These tasks aren’t business priorities and had no impact on customers and other teams

So if those "some" include upgrades, then I would say it's rational for the employee to focus on tasks that are going to get them a promotion.

I don't agree with that myself, I agree with you that upgrades are important, but this person is going to get a promotion through doing whatever their manager wants, and that apparently doesn't include upgrades.