Bayer cut 40% of its US middle managers and 99% of its 1,362-page handbook

Speaking at Fortune's Workplace Innovation Summit in May 2025, Bayer Pharmaceuticals COO Sebastian Guth detailed the German drugmaker's radical transformation: the struggling company had done away with middle managers — eliminating 40% of them in the US alone — and scrapped 99% of its 1,362-page corporate handbook. 'This wasn't an effort to just slash and burn,' Guth said; the goal, eighteen months into the overhaul, was an organisation 'significantly more agile' that empowers teams to make decisions.

The cuts were not purely by rank: some managers transitioned to individual-contributor roles and, Guth said, came to realise part of what they did before wasn't adding as much value as they wanted. Bayer invested significantly in upskilling the managers who remained and eliminated traditional management targets from budgets — what he called 'a very important unlock.' Teams now flow resources to where they see the biggest impact and, crucially, decide for themselves, drawing on the insight of thousands of colleagues rather than waiting for others to decide on their behalf.

Guth credited the overhaul with significant growth: 23% across North America in the first-quarter results (self-reported at the summit). The approach has its doubters — Medley cofounder Edith Cooper, on the same panel, argued executives should hunt bottlenecks across the organisation rather than count how many roles they can eliminate. Even Guth conceded such an extensive overhaul must be done strategically, with teams having a say so changes don't just stream down from on high.

23% growth across North America in Q1 2025 (self-reported by Guth); 40% of US middle managers eliminated and 99% of the corporate handbook scrapped.

It treats management layers as a decision-latency problem, not a payroll line — the stated goal is faster team decisions.

Killing management targets in budgets removes the incentive to rebuild the hierarchy through the back door.

Upskilling stayers and converting some roles to individual contributors made the cut survivable rather than demoralising.

Scrapping 99% of a 1,362-page handbook and the layers that enforced it was one move — process and hierarchy shrink together.

Flattening fails as pure cost-cutting: pair role eliminations with upskilling, kill management targets in budgets, and let teams decide where resources flow — or the hierarchy rebuilds itself.

Fortune reported the Q1 2025 figures Guth cited; whether the flattening holds as Bayer's broader turnaround proceeds remains to be seen, and the summit panel carried dissent — Medley's Edith Cooper argued for targeting bottlenecks instead of eliminating roles wholesale. No independent verification tying the 23% North America growth to the flattening is given in the report.