I worked with middle managers in Big Tech for 10 years. It's a mistake to cut their jobs.

"I began managing small teams in 2013, after almost three years as an individual contributor at Yahoo, then Facebook. By 2014, I was line-managing other managers at Facebook. In 2015, I moved to Airbnb and oversawa research and insights team of over 100 people. By the time I left over eight years later in 2023, I was the head of Airbnb's Design Studio, running a large UX team with multiple layers of management."

"My experience as both a middle manager and senior leader has convinced me that culling middle managers is mostly a symptom of organizations not knowing how to use them. At the same time, many middle managers don't know what it takes to be effective and miss opportunities to make an impact. I know how difficult it can be to demonstrate effectiveness as a middle manager"

A tech executive who managed middle managers at Facebook and Airbnb for a decade later led a large UX organization and now teaches leadership and coaches executives. He observes growing layoffs of middle managers during a "Great Flattening" and views many cuts as symptoms of organizations failing to define or use middle-management roles effectively. He also notes many middle managers lack skills to demonstrate impact. Early in his management career he often lacked context and clear expectations from senior leaders, which forced him to become proactive. He improved team momentum by strengthening relationships and communication with product managers and engineers.

Read at Business Insider