Middle managers declining

Axios - Middle managers — i.e., bosses who have bosses — were already quietly going extinct, and now AI may be hastening the process. People managers now oversee about twice as many workers as just five years ago.

• There are now nearly six individual contributors per manager at the 8,500 small businesses analyzed in a report by Gusto, which handles payroll for small and medium-sized employers.
• That's up from a little over three in 2019.

Big Tech has been shedding middle managers for the past few years, a process that's been dubbed the Great Flattening.  Reducing management layers is one of Microsoft's stated goals in laying off thousands of workers this year as it ramps up its AI strategy. Amazon CEO Andy Jassy last year announced an effort to reduce managers (memo).

🦾 Another win for Meta's AI moonshot: Apple's top executive in charge of AI models — distinguished engineer Ruoming Pang — is leaving for Meta, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman reports.