Big Tech's great flattening is happening because it's out of options

Business Insider

19-05-2025

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In today's big story, we're looking at Big Tech's obsession with cutting out middle managers and flattening their orgs.
What's on deck
But first, no longer stuck in the middle.
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The big story
Flat techies
Getty images; Tyler Le/BI
Technology can quickly become outdated, but it's a job title in tech that's an endangered species: the middle manager.
Big Tech is flattening its ranks to thin out layers of management in a bid to reduce bureaucracy, writes Emma Cosgrove, Tim Paradis, Eugene Kim, and Ashley Stewart.
Middle managers have had to keep their heads on a swivel for a while. At the end of last year, BI's workplace expert Aki Ito detailed Corporate America falling out of love with the role.
But the tech industry has taken the trend into overdrive, as is often the case. From Microsoft to Intel and Amazon, companies are shedding managers to make themselves as quick and lean as possible.
The biggest immediate impact of flattening orgs is managers overseeing more workers. Some argue that will limit micromanagement. Others say you'll burn out the managers who are left behind.
Big Tech is willing to take its chances, though.
As Amazon CEO Andy Jassy said last fall: " I hate bureaucracy."
"The goal again is to allow us to have higher ownership and to move more quickly," Jassy added.
Big Tech's middle-management purge speaks to a larger trend: Let the stars shine and get rid of anyone else.
Part of tech companies' efficiency push is to identify top performers and weed out underachievers.
With that approach, you could argue there is less of a need for managers. No weak links in the chain means managers don't have to do as much hand-holding. Get out of the way and let your top performers do what they do best.
This isn't a foolproof strategy, though. Someone being extremely capable at their job doesn't always correlate with them being an easy employee to manage. In fact, sometimes the opposite can be true.
But what other options do these tech giants have? The pressure from startups like OpenAI and Anthropic is undeniable. Their smaller size also gives them a massive leg up to move quickly.
And when it comes to AI, speed is the name of the game. Meanwhile, middle managers seem to only be slowing companies down.
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What's happening today
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