Why fewer workers add up to more growth for corporate America: report

In a recent message to Amazon staff, CEO Andy Jassy acknowledged that AI’s rapid evolution will reduce the need for certain roles. Earlier, he emphasized that not every new project requires a large team, noting, “The best leaders get the most done with the least number of resources required to do the job.”

Leaner structures, broader roles

Procter & Gamble recently revealed it’s eliminating 7,000 positions—15% of its corporate workforce—to create “broader roles and smaller teams.” Meanwhile, Estée Lauder and Match Group have each cut around 20% of their managerial ranks, according to the Wall Street Journal.

At Hewlett Packard Enterprise, finance chief Marie Myers told investors, “Flatter is faster,” highlighting that HPE now operates with under 59,000 employees—its lowest since becoming an independent firm a decade ago.

These reductions mark a departure from the traditional boom-bust employment cycle, according to the Journal. Companies are scaling down even as profits soar. The Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis reported record-high corporate profits at the close of last year.

Jason Lemkin, a tech investor and former Adobe executive, recently commented, “Everyone with 500 employees and up that I talk to, off the record, including public companies, says, ‘I don’t need 30% to 40% of my team.’”