Amazon CEO Andy Jassy is shaking up the tech giant’s corporate structure by cutting middle managers and empowering individual contributors. His reasoning? Too many managers are slowing things down by trying to “put their fingerprint on everything,” leading to endless pre-meetings and diluted decision-making.

“You end up with people in pre-meetings for the pre-meetings, and not always making the right recommendations,” Jassy told Bloomberg. “We want more ownership and faster movement from those actually doing the work.”

This isn’t just talk—Amazon is already ahead of schedule on its goal to increase the ratio of individual contributors to managers by 15%. Jassy believes this shift will streamline operations, boost innovation, and give employees more autonomy. But there’s a catch: workers must return to the office.

Despite pushback—from “rage applying” to surveys showing dissatisfaction—Amazon isn’t budging on its five-day return-to-office (RTO) mandate. AWS CEO Matt Garman summed it up bluntly: “If people don’t want to work in that environment, that’s okay. There are other companies.”

For Jassy, the future of Amazon is clear: fewer bosses, more ownership, and a firm commitment to in-person collaboration. Whether employees are on board remains to be seen.

Middle Management is Out, and Gen Z is Here for It

While RTO mandates may not be popular, Amazon’s move to reduce middle management and increase employee autonomy aligns perfectly with what Gen Z wants in the workplace. In fact, more than half of Gen Z workers (52%) say they’d rather not be middle managers at all, according to a 2025 survey by recruitment firm Robert Walters. A staggering 72% prefer an “individual route to progression” over supervising others.

This aversion to management roles isn’t surprising. Gen Z has watched their bosses burn out under the weight of constant organizational changes, lack of support, and dwindling well-being. Instead of climbing the traditional corporate ladder, they’re embracing what’s been dubbed “conscious unbossing”—prioritizing personal growth, work-life balance, and autonomy over managerial responsibilities.

Amazon isn’t alone in this shift. Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg has also championed “flattening” hierarchies, crediting Elon Musk for inspiring the trend. In 2023, Meta asked many middle managers to transition to individual contributor roles to speed up decision-making. Google and pharmaceutical giant Bayer have followed suit, with Bayer even asking its 100,000 employees to self-organize after cutting supervisor roles.

Even Warren Buffett has weighed in, admitting in his latest Berkshire Hathaway shareholder letter that failing to vet middle managers effectively was a costly mistake. “The fidelity disappointments can hurt beyond their financial impact,” he wrote, comparing the fallout to a “failed marriage.”

For companies like Amazon, this generational shift is a golden opportunity. By reducing bureaucracy and empowering individual contributors, they’re not just cutting costs—they’re appealing to a workforce that values autonomy and innovation over traditional hierarchies. For Gen Z, fewer bosses might just mean more freedom to thrive.