The ‘Great Flattening’ rolls on as Uber lays off middle managers

Uber has announced a 10% workforce reduction, resulting in around 3,300 job cuts in the company's largest layoffs since the pandemic. CEO Dara Khosrowshahi explained that the changes aim to expedite decision-making by reducing management layers. The company has seen a 20% decrease in employees with seven or more layers between them and the CEO, and nearly half of the "micro-teams" with only one or two reports have been eliminated.

This move is part of the ongoing "Great Flattening" trend, where companies like Meta, Amazon, Google, and Microsoft have been cutting middle management roles to speed up processes, inspired by artificial intelligence and Mark Zuckerberg's belief in "flatter is faster" organizations. Recent data shows the average number of people reporting to managers has risen from 10.9 in 2024 to 12.1 in 2025, with a nearly 50% increase since 2013.

A recent survey found that 41% of employees experienced a reduction in management layers at their organization. While some firms, like Bayer and Citi, reported productivity gains and cost savings from restructuring, others, like Meta, faced employee discontent and performance issues after aggressive "flattening" initiatives. The Great Flattening has raised concerns about potential drawbacks, such as losing institutional knowledge and leading to a shortage of future leaders.

Despite these risks, managers who remain may struggle with increased responsibilities and decreased job satisfaction, as 97% of surveyed managers reported having individual contributor duties in addition to leading others.