{
  "id": 5383719,
  "title": "The ‘Great Flattening’ rolls on as Uber lays off middle managers",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/09/03/the-great-flattening-rolls-on-as-uber-lays-off-middle-managers",
  "topic": "business",
  "section": "Business",
  "published": "2026-09-03T18:00:00.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "Fast Company",
    "slug": "fast-company",
    "url": "https://www.fastcompany.com/91601567/the-great-flattening-rolls-on-as-uber-lays-off-middle-managers"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "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.",
  "summary": "Uber is reducing its workforce by 10%, or about 3,300 workers, in its largest job cuts since the pandemic, CEO Dara Khosrowshahi announced yesterday . The changes, which follow a period of solid growth at the ride-sharing giant, are intended to speed up decision-making by reducing the number of management layers, Khosrowshahi wrote in a memo to employees . The number of workers who sit seven or…",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 2,
    "also_reported_by": [
      {
        "outlet": "Business Insider",
        "title": "Uber is cutting many of its 'micro-teams' and giving some middle managers more reports",
        "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/09/03/uber-is-cutting-many-of-its-micro-teams-and-giving-some-middle",
        "published": "2026-09-03T09:55:01.000Z"
      }
    ]
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}