Bayer AG is one of the world's largest pharmaceutical companies and it created Aspirin which is useful for treating headaches and manufactured Zyklon B a poisonous gas which killed thousands of civilians during the Second World War. Bayer CEO Bill Anderson announced the company will eliminate middle management positions in a cost-saving measure of up to $2.15 billion.
This drastic step was taken after receiving feedback from staff who said bureaucracy was slowing down the innovation process at Bayer. In addition, the company's nearly 2,000-page manual was also revamped to speed up the decision-making process by staff. With no more middle management, Bayer employees will manage themselves from now on.
The action taken by Bayer may be drastic but it is not a new idea. Post-pandemic technology companies began to lay off hundreds of thousands of workers and the majority of those sacrificed were management staff. Meta, Google, X and Tesla are among those doing it to cut costs after the pandemic left a big impact.