Middling Returns

Citi recently reduced its layers of management from 13 to eight, UPS cut 12,000 of its 85,000 managers, and Amazon announced its plans to increase its ratio of workers to supervisors by at least 15 percent in a new trend known as flattening. Business Insider defines the development in a study published at the end of 2024 as cutting out tiers of leadership, typically middle management. Thousands of middle managers are losing their jobs—and companies aren't replacing those workers, ever, because employers are eliminating the jobs altogether.

According to data compiled by Revelio Labs, hiring levels for middle managers have fallen significantly during the past two years. While hiring for entry-level positions has dropped 14 percent since 2022, hiring for middle managers has decreased 43 percent. Further, according to a Live Data Technologies analysis, middle managers accounted for 32 percent of layoffs in 2023—a 12 percent increase from 2019. While numbers rebounded for almost all other job postings in 2024, middle management positions only increased by 1 percent.

Removing a critical part of the workforce will create a significant problem in the employee development space, directly proportionate to the missing staff. Middle managers play an important role in development, acting as mentors or coaches to direct reports, meaning that future generations may be stunted in their career development or unable to lead effectively without an example. In addition, upward internal mobility may be stifled. According to LinkedIn Learning's 2024 Workplace Learning Report, one-third of organizations have internal mobility programs, and only one in five employees have confidence in their ability to move up the ladder in their company.

Without middle managers, businesses will have to find other ways to prepare workers for leadership roles and ensure the remaining managers are not overextended. Due to mass layoffs, middle managers are now vying for fewer jobs while spreading themselves thin in an otherwise oversaturated job market.