Middle Managers On Road To Perdition As Tech, Age, And Slowdown Eat Up Jobs

Around eight months ago, 44-year-old A (who did not wish to be named) was ready to take on the threat of artificial intelligence (AI). He was leading the sales coordination team at a top private bank in Lucknow and wanted to shift to a more sales-focused role. The backend work he did, such as reviewing loan documents, identifying errors, issues, and fraud, he thought would be taken over by technology.

Since the bank encourages employees to apply for internal job postings, A did so with no luck. In the meantime, his boss replaced him with a junior and forced him to take a posting halfway across the country — in Ahmedabad. Dejected at the situation in the new city and missing his family, he quit with no job at hand and spends most of his day scouring social media for appropriate jobs, and they are very few.

The sales job that A thought was ‘mission critical’ wasn’t easy for S (who did not wish to be named). S was working as the VP of sales for a top hospitality chain. The company had an aggressive sales strategy, and despite the illusion of a boom in the travel sector, business hasn’t been what it was since Covid, as the high-spending foreign tourists never came back, he said.

“We see news of expansions and capex announcements from the travel industry. The reality is a lot different. Our job has become tougher and our seniors keep promising unusual growth numbers to the board and abuse us when they’re not achieved. If I held a junior position, I could go to the human resource (HR) department, but can I go to the head of HR to complain about the CEO?” S said. He quit after being miserable at the job.

Where Are The Rs 50 LPA Jobs?

In another era, employees in their late 30s and 40s started grooming for top-level jobs. In the new era, however, their experience matters very little.

“Everywhere I go, across sectors, I am told that my salary is too much. They hire juniors to do the same job I did, and do not want the finesse or the expertise. They want to pay Rs 20 lakh per annum, which is a huge step down for me,” said S, who has taken up freelance consulting projects instead of searching for jobs that do not exist.

On the other hand, A has been ready to take up jobs that pay 40% less, but those have been elusive, too. “I almost accepted one such job, but that offer was revoked via an SMS. I accepted a job at a startup which had a strange salary structure. I was asked to generate twice as much revenue as my salary, only then I would be paid my chunky variable pay,’ he said.

A quit after two weeks, after realising that he could freelance for loan originations for a commission instead of holding on to the hopeless job.

Ring In The Young

Experts believe that managers in the middle are at the most risk of facing job cuts due to their salaries, and also, unfortunately, their age. Neeti Sharma, CEO of Teamlease Digital, told The Core that companies believe that younger employees would be easier to train, to deploy to newer segments and locations, as they are unencumbered.

“People in their 40s have children who are in the middle of education and settled at a place. It would be hard for them to go to a new place,” she added.

The CEO of Indian multinational conglomerate Larsen & Toubro, SN Subramanyam, echoed similar sentiments in an interview with The Economic Times. They are leveraging a new generation of employees for ‘fresh perspectives’ and expanding their responsibilities.

“Many project sites are now managed by 28-32-year-olds replacing traditional 40-year-old leadership requirements,” Subramanyam told the publication.

Many companies now thinking along similar lines. They believe that middle-aged employees won’t catch up in a tech-driven world as AI and other tech advances take root. “I was told again and again that I wouldn’t be able to catch up with a new sector or a position because of my age,” said A.

Tech To Axe Techie Jobs

The technology sector, which holds the cream of white collared jobs, is also facing the heat of slowdown as well as AI. News that tech major Tata Consultancy Services is set to lay off 12,000 senior and mid-level managers sent shockwaves through the job market. The sector has been seeing negative revenue growth for two years now, on account of recession fear, which has not let up amidst tariff tantrums by US President Donald Trump.

“Macro ​headwinds, such as wars and Trump tariffs, have dampened the overall demand​ and reduced the discretionary spending of large enterprises across the globe. An anticipation of AI disruption to repetitive, mundane tasks like testing and related skills has put the IT Services companies in a cautionary mode,” saod Kamal Karanth, co-founder of Xpheno, a specialist staffing company.

While a slowdown could be temporary, AI is bringing in structural changes with long-lasting effects on organisational structures. Sharma said that around 20-30% basic coding jobs are being done by AI now. As these entry-level jobs dwindle, the ripple effect will be felt in upper rungs of the organisational hierarchy too. As fewer people would mean fewer managers are needed to manage them.

“Organisations will look very different in the near future. Now the structure is like a pyramid with a lot of freshers and juniors, managers above them and managers of managers over them. These structures will turn more cylindrical or horizontal with a few peaks,” explained Sharma.

Few People Need No Managers

Many experts expect this transformation to happen gradually over two to three years, but when it happens, a job crisis could arise — and it might have just begun as well. The people-managing team leaders of a certain vintage are the most at risk.

“If you look at it, middle and senior level employees are of four kinds – tech experts, domain experts, and those in client-facing roles. All of them are important to the company. There is a fourth kind who are people managers. If they do not upskill, AI can impact these jobs,” said Karanth.

It is, however, not only technology or adjacent sectors that will see AI disruption. Others, like banking as indicated above, will feel the aftershocks in a few years. “The impact of AI on jobs will be higher in business-to-consumer segments than business-to-business service segments like IT,” said Muralidharan Thyagarajan, founder and chairman of the TMI Network, an integrated HR services company.

While upskilling is imminent in sectors like construction, retail and more, mid-level managers are rarely chosen for training, etc. These opportunities, as L&T indicated earlier, are going to younger employees too.

A Story Untold In Numbers

Little of the stress in the mid-level jobs is left uncaptured by data. The unemployment data released by the government in the form of Period Labour Force Survey (PLS) does not include mid-career professionals completely. It gives data for 15-29 year olds and goes on to ‘other ages’ directly.

As per the latest PLS of July 2025, the unemployment of ‘all ages’ is at 5.2% for both genders, as compared to 14.9% for 15–29-year-olds. Many experts and economists believe that a single number cannot represent a country as complicated as India. But unofficially, many believe that more jobs are lost than created for various age groups.

“For every job that is created it is compensated by many job losses. Every year, we create a million jobs but around eight million job seekers enter the market,” said Thyagarajan. He also said that as consumption hits a standstill over uncertainty fears, it could lead to further job losses.

Young people, many believe, are making the quick shift to gigs. “In the hospitality industry, a front office person is paid as low as Rs 15,000-20,000 per month, which is lower for busboys and waiters, even by big brands. They are going for food delivery jobs which gives them independence with similar pay,” explained S, who has spent many years in the industry.

Gigs are slower, lower and ill-paying for white collar employees, especially at the mid-level. While a few are searching voraciously, a few have given up, and others are holding onto jobs tightly amidst an uncertain future.

“The only thing that is thriving are career coaching courses for middle-aged employees that are all over the internet. I had taken one which suggests I must manifest a better job,” said A.