But in recent weeks, as companies brace for tougher times ahead, the assault on middle managers has picked up new steam. At Meta, Mark Zuckerberg is eliminating layers of middle management, demoting many supervisors to the ranks of the supervised. Zuckerberg offered a telling explanation for his decision: He doesn't want to have "managers managing managers, managing managers, managing managers, managing the people who are doing the work." In the UKG survey, 42% of middle managers said they were often or always stressed — a higher share than either frontline workers or C-suite executives. The businesses most likely to weather the current economic turmoil, Harter says, are those that unlock the hidden value of middle managers.

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