Millennials Are Most Likely to Be Managers Hit by the Great Flattening

Mary Monohan, 37, saw the signs when the powers that be started reorganizing teams and switching up her assignments: layoffs were coming.

By the time she learned her manager role was being eliminated, she’d already been searching for new opportunities. Less than a month later, she’s starting to realize that she may have to be willing to make a lateral professional move or even “a few thousand dollars less than I was making before,” she told Business Insider.

Millennials in management are in a tough spot. Caught somewhere between entry-level roles and the C-Suite, they’re especially vulnerable to the Great Flattening, a trend of eliminating middle managers brought on by companies’ desires to cut costs and bureaucracy. Those who are let go may have to accept lower pay or titles in their next role, while those who remain are left to take on extra responsibilities and reports.

Daniel Radmanovic, 40, was laid off from his managerial position at Deloitte in October. He started actively job searching in January and said it was a “soul-sucking learning experience.”

However, on Friday, Radmanovic received a verbal job offer from a Fortune 500 company. He described it as a “pivot” because he’ll be in a client-facing individual contributor role and not managing people, but it isn’t a step back since he’s excited to embrace the change.

“I can just focus on my job and my clients,” he told Business Insider, adding, “I can’t tell you how excited I am to be getting this role.”

Letting millennial managers go and giving the rest more reports

Many older millennials have found themselves caught in the Great Flattening.

Gusto, a payroll and benefits platform, found that 35- to 44-year-olds are being hardest hit by manager firings or layoffs at 8,500 of its small and midsize business clients. Layoffs among that age group of managers rose more than 400% between January 2022 and September 2024, compared to a decline of 48% for 55- to 64-year-olds.

Managers who survive the layoffs face another problem: a growing pool of direct reports. Gusto data showed that individual contributors per people manager nearly doubled from 3.2 in January 2019 to 5.8 in September 2024, based on the sample of small and midsize businesses analyzed. This means that many of today’s managers have to balance a growing slate of 1:1 meetings, staff questions, and paperwork.

In Monohan’s experience, having a good manager is important for people’s experience at work, especially for an entry-level worker.

“Your manager plays a huge role in getting you promoted, getting you seen, getting you a raise, a bonus,” Monohan said. “I’ve worked hard as a manager to try and get people that worked under me recognized, and sometimes it could take six months or longer to get them the bonus or the recognition that they deserve.”

She added that she’s not sure what will happen with some of her outstanding duties, like her former report’s performance review.

“There are these open threads,” she said. “You’re just hoping companies are going to be able to pick up the pieces and move forward with, when it comes to the people you were managing.”

There’s still hope, even if it involves a pay cut or demotion

The job market isn’t all doom and gloom for millennials. The US rate of layoffs and discharges is still low. Plus, the unemployment rate for 35- to 44-year-olds continues to be lower than the overall unemployment rate — 3.2% compared to 4.1% in June.

Monohan is confident her past experience will lead to a job, but is worried about how soon she can get one and the lack of opportunities available.

“As a single person without a second income or healthcare plan to fall back on, I have to know my worth but also face the realities of how long I can be out of work without having to move in with family or make dramatic life changes,” Monohan said.

She said she can’t be picky in the current job market. She’s open to individual contributor roles, but would ideally get another manager job. In the meantime, she’s been networking and might take on some contract work. Others in her position have told BI they are settling for work they feel overqualified for to pay the bills.

Radmanovic recommends not going through the job search process alone, if possible. He said he frequently talked to another laid-off Deloitte worker. They gave each other advice, helped with interview preparation, and commiserated during the process. Radmanovic already told the former coworker the good news about the job offer and hopes they will land one soon.

“Sometimes it’s nice to just vent with somebody that’s going through that as well,” Radmanovic said.