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alexandrafeig
- February 27, 2025
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At the end of September, I wrote about my thoughts on Amazon’s return-to-office decision and commenting on how these announcements often seem to be followed with announcements of layoffs. Sure enough – just weeks later, Amazon announced plans to lay off over 1,000 middle managers – but framed it as an effort to streamline operations. This seems to be de rigueur today – especially the focus on middle management. According to an analysis by Bloomberg News, middle managers made up almost a third of layoffs in 2023.
So, what’s driving this focus on middle management? And what does it mean for companies and employees in the long term?
Sure – middle management has expanded significantly over time. Some of it – especially during Covid – was a response to rapid and frantic hiring by companies the world over. But I’d argue that it also correlates with the increasing complexity of work and organizational structures. As as a middle manager that overseas multiple countries, keeping up to date knowledge on different rules and processes all across my region is nearly a full-time job in itself. For example, the Code of Federal Regulations—a compilation of all U.S. federal rules and regulations—has grown from under 25,000 pages to over 165,000 pages in the last 50 years. I think it speaks to broader trends of how modern employees are expected to be specialists at their role, but that in order to do that role credibly, they must also often be generalist experts in all sorts of things that don’t directly relate.
At the same time, what we ask of employees has shifted dramatically. Companies are investing less and less in training, but still expect new hires to ramp up quickly – even as the tools and systems needed to do jobs change rapidly. Employees themselves no longer stay for decades with one firm, becoming entrenched in institutional knowledge.
Enter the middle manager. Whether they recognize it or not, companies and junior employees rely on middle managers to become those support systems: a failsafe for organizations navigating rapid decision-making, complex processes, and fast-paced changes. As a middle manager myself, I often find at end of the day wondering where my time has gone. But then I remember, I jumped on a Zoom call to brainstorm an approach to a project, or spent time on Slack providing needed context to an initiative, or just making sure my team feels heard and supported.
Despite their value, they are often the first to be impactd during cost-cutting exercises. This intrinsic value isn’t something that readily appears when companies are looking to flatten structures. But what can be missed in that effort to flatten and streamline is that middle managers aren’t just overseeing tasks; they are often ensuring cohesion and serving as a critical bridge between strategic vision of executives and employees ensuring those visions are executed effectively.
So – what happens when these “bridges” disappear? Will we truly see improved efficiencies or will we see unintended consequences like burnout, decision paralysis, or declining morale?
We are seeing this trend more vocally in the largest organizations, which also typically have the best access to training, systems and tools to improve efficiencies, and world-class talent who therefore may weather this change better than most. Or will they prove to be the canaries in the coal mine?
In five or ten years, I’ll be interested to see how these trends play out. Will the focus on improving operational efficiencies via the elimination of the “middle management” result in innovation and better productivity? Or will it expose cracks in the foundations of these organizations? I’ll be curious to see what we can learn from these organizations – and what lessons (good or bad) other companies can take.
Of course, the real question here is also – are these layoffs genuinely aiming to improve operational efficiencies, or are they part of a broader narrative aimed at reducing costs while maintaining the perception of a lean, agile workforce?
What do you think? Are middle managers needed or unnecessary?
