Workers are increasingly being asked to do more than one job as companies cut posts in the name of efficiency, a global survey has found.
Korn Ferry’s Workforce 2026 report found that 61% of more than 16,000 professionals surveyed across 11 markets said they were carrying out the responsibilities of more than one role.
Some 62% said their workloads had increased significantly over the past two years, while 45% said they were too busy to deliver meaningful results that contributed to growth.
The findings raise questions over whether businesses are removing jobs faster than they are removing the work attached to them. Korn Ferry has described the trend as the “two-job job”.
The report comes as companies continue to flatten their organisational structures. Uber said last month that it would cut about 10% of its workforce, equivalent to roughly 3,300 employees, while reducing its number of managers by 20%.
Chief executive Dara Khosrowshahi said the restructuring would create “clearer ownership, faster decisions, and more time spent building rather than coordinating”. He said savings would be reinvested in growth and innovation.
Unlike some technology executives, Mr Khosrowshahi did not attribute the cuts to AI.
Management cuts leave remaining staff under pressure
Korn Ferry found that 42% of organisations had cut management roles over the past year. More than half of the managers who remained, 55%, said they were exhausted.
A further 39% of workers said a lack of managers had left them feeling directionless, suggesting that reducing layers of management may create additional pressure for those still in post.
Peter Cappelli, the George W Taylor Professor of Management at the Wharton School, questioned whether cutting managers delivered the productivity gains companies expected.
“It is not more efficient in terms of productivity to cut managers,” he said. Managers solved problems that helped their teams get work done, he added.
“It just cuts costs and especially headcount, which is how CFOs in particular keep score,” Mr Cappelli said.
He also drew a distinction between removing jobs and removing employees, arguing that the same work still had to be covered by those left behind.
“It is in fact a misnomer to say that jobs are cut. It is employees that are cut,” he said.
There are signs that at least one company is reconsidering how far to take reductions in management. Meta has asked some individual contributors in its Applied AI division whether they wanted to return to management roles, according to a report cited in the source material, following a period in which it had removed management layers.
Korn Ferry said employee motivation had fallen from 71% in 2024 to 61% in 2026. Lesley Uren, chief executive of Korn Ferry Consulting, said companies could not achieve growth simply by asking staff to take on more work.
“Growth doesn’t come from just asking people to do more,” Ms Uren said. Cost-cutting and restructuring could generate savings, she added, without creating the enthusiasm needed to drive productivity and growth.
