Companies are cutting more managers, leaving employees directionless

• The wave of "unbossing" really took off amid tech layoffs in 2022 and 2023, perhaps most famously at Meta.
• "I don't think you want a management structure that's just managers managing managers, managing managers, managing managers, managing the people who are doing the work," CEO Mark Zuckerberg reportedly said at a meeting during his 2023 "year of efficiency" push.

Zoom in: Sometimes there are too many layers in an organization, but often people need managers.

• Losing them can often leave employees directionless and unmoored, says Maria Amato, a senior client partner at Korn Ferry who specializes in employee experience.
• 44% of 2,000 professionals in the U.S. surveyed by Korn Ferry said their company has cut back at the manager level — and about 40% of them say they feel "directionless" as a result.
• It's kind of like a rowing team, if everyone is rowing their hardest, but going in different directions, that's "not useful," she says. The manager is supposed to all get them moving the same way.

Between the lines: Managers typically cost more than "ICs," or individual contributors — a lot of firms see getting rid of them as an easy way to get rid of an expensive line item.

The bottom line: Be nice to your boss, she might be on her way out.