Spans and Layers: The Forgotten Lever of Organisation Design

One of the simplest ways to understand how well an organisation is working is to look at its spans and layers. It sounds technical, but it is really about two questions:

• How many people report to each manager? (spans)

• How many levels exist from the top to the bottom of the organisation? (layers)

Get this balance wrong, and your organisation pays the price every day. Too many layers, and decisions slow down. Too few, and managers become overloaded. The right balance creates accountability, clarity, and agility.

Despite its importance, most organisations have never run a spans and layers analysis. That means they are operating blind to one of the most basic indicators of efficiency and effectiveness.

Why Spans and Layers Matter

Organisations naturally drift toward complexity over time. Leaders add layers to create promotions. Functions create their own titles and levels. New managers are appointed to reduce workload, often without clarity on where value is being added.

The result is organisational debt: unnecessary layers, inconsistent spans, duplicated management overhead, and frustrated employees. People complain about bureaucracy, but the root cause is often poor spans and layers discipline.

Best practice shows that healthy spans and layers deliver:

• Clarity of accountability: employees know who makes decisions and who sets priorities.

• Decision speed: fewer handoffs mean issues are resolved faster.

• Manager effectiveness: spans are large enough to justify a leader, but not so large that they become unmanageable.

• Cost efficiency: reducing unnecessary layers cuts management overhead without reducing capability.

What Good Looks Like

There is no single “magic number,” but credible benchmarks provide guidance.

• Spans: A healthy average is usually between 6 and 10 direct reports per manager. Below 4 often signals a redundant layer. Above 12 usually signals overload unless the work is highly standardised.

• Layers: Most organisations should aim for 6 to 8 layers from the CEO to the front line. More than 9 creates hierarchy creep. Fewer than 5 is only sustainable in small or highly flat businesses.

These benchmarks are not rules, but they highlight where further analysis is needed. A span of 3 may make sense for a senior specialist team, just as a span of 15 may be appropriate for a contact centre. The test is whether the design enables value, clarity, and speed.

Challenges in Influencing Change

For HR and Org Design professionals, adjusting spans and layers can be politically sensitive. Some of the most common challenges include:

• Perceived threats to leadership roles: Managers with narrow spans may feel their role is under scrutiny or at risk.

• Status and hierarchy: Additional layers often create titles and status symbols. Removing them can be seen as a loss of prestige.

• Fear of overload: Proposals to widen spans can create anxiety that managers will be stretched too thin.

• Short-term disruption: Leaders may resist changes that cause immediate upheaval, even if long-term benefits are clear.

• Lack of understanding: Without clear education, spans and layers can sound like abstract HR jargon rather than a practical lever for performance.

How to Overcome These Challenges

• Frame the conversation in business outcomes: Position spans and layers not as an HR project, but as a way to improve decision speed, accountability, and cost efficiency.

• Use evidence, not opinion: Data on current spans, benchmarking, and the impact of existing bottlenecks helps depersonalise the conversation.

• Show scenarios: Model options to demonstrate the trade-offs. Leaders are more open when they see choices and implications rather than a single imposed answer.

• Engage managers early: Those most affected should be part of the process. Involving them helps reduce resistance and builds ownership.

• Highlight support mechanisms: If spans are widened, outline how managers will be equipped with tools, training, or delegation practices to succeed.

• Link to culture: Reinforce how the changes support the organisation’s values, whether that is empowerment, agility, or efficiency.

Final Word

If you have never run a spans and layers analysis, you do not know how your organisation really works. It is one of the fastest, most revealing diagnostics in organisation design, and it often highlights inefficiencies that no one talks about.

For HR and Org Design professionals, the challenge is not just running the analysis, but influencing leaders to act on it. That requires evidence, framing, and a focus on business outcomes rather than HR theory.

The right balance of spans and layers will not solve every organisational challenge, but it is a foundation for clarity, speed, and agility. Leaders who ignore it will continue to battle slow decisions, hidden costs, and frustrated employees. Leaders who embrace it, and work with HR to design intentionally, will build organisations that are leaner, faster, and fit for the future.