Millennials may find themselves most at risk of losing their careers as a result of companies eliminating middle-management positions at an increasing rate. Numerous causes, such as cost-cutting, Gen Z’s dislike of management, remote work, and higher performance expectations, have contributed to the great “unbossing”.
Future generations might experience less mentoring and increased pressure from above when they enter the workforce as a result.
However, junior staff members are not the only ones who can do worse.
According to Lara Milward, a neuroleadership coach who specialises in workplace culture shifts and uses neuroscientific research to enhance management practices, told Business Insider that the people in their 30s who are starting families, buying homes, and balancing “career progression and family life” are the ones who risk having their jobs abruptly terminated.
“It could well be that that’s the generation that takes this hit,” she explained.
Middle-management millennials are vulnerable
Chief Research Officer at Vistage, an executive coaching company, Joe Galvin told BI that the “unbossing” trend was a result of demographic transitions, technological advancements, and the growing acceptance of remote work.
“In the analog era, going back to, let’s say, the ‘80s, you had to communicate manually to be able to align your workforce,” he stated. “Today, technology has made that all possible. And the behaviour change that we saw during the pandemic was an accelerant to that.”
Gallup was informed by Steven Baert, the Chief People and Organisation Officer at Novartis at the time in 2021 that traditional leadership was “becoming redundant”. As opposed to giving employees orders, he said the corporation wants its employees to be driven and supported in their efforts to be productive.
The old-fashioned type of manager who circles the office making sure every person is performing their job is becoming less and less common.
The boss’s role has drastically changed, according to Galvin. “How you manage relationships in a more digital environment is much more difficult.”
Galvin claimed that the goal of cutting middle management was to improve executive-employee communication; nevertheless, the effects might not be equally distributed.
Revelio Labs and Layoffs data shows that they were likewise the most severely affected group during the “Big Firing” of 2022, accounting for 94% of all laid-off personnel.
“This trend is most likely to affect millennials and some Gen X because they make up a large portion of middle management,” Chris Lovell, creator of Careers by Chris and careers specialist at SoFi Technologies, told BI.
“These are also the generations that were most likely taught to follow a traditional career path: Go to school, earn a degree, and climb the corporate ladder,” Lovell stated.
Work-life harmony has evolved
The irony is that middle-management positions may be being eliminated in part because millennials are “less interested in corporate bureaucracies or hierarchies,” according to Lovell.
Data indicates that a lack of trust in senior leadership, a perception of little financial benefit, and a greater emphasis on work-life balance and vacation time are deterring both millennials and Gen Zers from pursuing management roles.
Due to staff reductions and higher workloads, a large number of middle managers are also burned out.
It is also possible that Gen Zers are changing the culture of the workforce by emphasising their need for greater autonomy, their mental health, and their limits.
“I think this collides with economies and the way that the world is going, that companies are cutting costs,” said Milward.
“If we’re thinking about a world of diversity, inclusivity, and including new generations, they are trying to move towards a more flat structure and less of the old-school parent-child sort of relationship,” Milward said.
Managers are under constant pressure to outperform their previous quarter’s results, but millennials aren’t always doing that well. According to Wolfe, millennial managers can be “difficult to work with.”
“They have fixed schedules and aren’t flexible, which is something difficult to adapt to, especially when you are working with different time zones,” he stated.
Gen Zers and millennials are more and more choosing to take more time off and leave work at the office when they go home rather than putting in extra hours and going above and beyond to get promoted.
According to Wolfe, this could make them appear rigid and exposed to layoffs.
Additionally, he stated that he would “rather see workers working when they have assignments to complete rather than just staring at a screen until the clock strikes five o’clock in the evening.”
How it affects zoomers
The creator of Fairy Job Mother and a career counsellor for young people, Shoshanna Davis, told BI she doesn’t think “unbossing” was a direct reaction to how younger generations view the workplace.
However, Gen Zers in their first or second jobs are probably going to be disproportionately affected.
In the end, she believes that eliminating this type of middle-management position would mean less coaching, mentoring, and guidance—all of which she feels are still desperately needed in a post-COVID world. She claimed that because they are new to the workforce, they do really need managers to help them learn the ropes.
Management has already lost the enthusiasm of Zoomers. The phrase “lazy-girl jobs” was first used by them, and they appear to firmly believe in the advantages of “quiet quitting”.
Will higher compensation replace fewer management positions? If there are no young managers for Gen Zers to aspire to, will their job advancement stagnate? What does this mean for the generations who follow them? Davis is unsure.
“If it’s just truly a way to cut costs, and there’s going to be no replacements, then what incentive is there for people to perform at work?” questioned Davis.
She continued: “I don’t really see how that’s going to pan out.”
(Tashia Bernardus)