WorkLore

What would our organizations look like without middle managers? 

We may find out sooner rather than later what that looks like. 

There’s a workplace trend called conscious unbossing, with over half of Gen Z workers have no interest in middle management roles, perceiving them (rightly so, IMHO) to be too high stressed with low reward for that. The prioritization by Gen Z of work-life balance doesn’t lend itself well to low reward / high stress combinations. 

Individual contributor roles are often valued by GenZ because they allow them to focus on the work they are passionate about without the stress of managing others. Hence avoiding middle management.

But what would it look like for organizations to have difficult recruiting into middle management positions? 

Will Millennials and Gen X get stuck in middle management, unable to move up because they have no successors? 

Will organizations need to trim middle management roles? What pressure would that put on the Executive and supervisory roles? 

Or, would the focus in hiring into middle management really hone in on those who have the talent and interest for the promotion? Rather than promoting the best individual contributor (which often happens)? Would we gain a more talented middle management pool, those who really want to be there, and keep those who wish to be individual contributors happier? 

I have mostly questions about this trend. 

What do you think?