Worksheet: Count the layers and spans on one page

Layers and narrow spans grow one sensible hire at a time. This sheet counts them from the org chart and asks the managers with few reports what their job is. It builds the Competent step of the check:

Most managers have six to eight reports, more where the work is repetitive, and there are no more than four layers from the CEO to the front line in a business under a hundred million, five in a larger one.

Step 1. Count from the org chart

The CEO is layer 1. A manager is anyone with at least one direct report.

Layer	Managers	People with no reports	Median reports per manager
1 (CEO)	1
2
3
4
5
6
e.g. 4	20	60	3

Step 2. Set the range for each kind of work

Kind of work	Similar or varied tasks	Supervision needed	Manager's own non-management work	Range of reports that fits
e.g. Warehouse picking	Similar	Low	Little	10 to 15

Repetitive work with little supervision takes wide spans. Varied, complex work takes narrower ones.

Step 3. Ask the managers with fewer than four reports

Manager	Reports	What the job is, in their words	Keep, widen or merge

Ask before anyone talks about savings. Some narrow spans are right.

Done when: most managers sit inside the range for their kind of work, and the layers to the front line are within your size's limit.

Adapted from our own spans-and-layers method (PSP, 2011).