We all know about income tax, GST, and stamp duty. But there’s another kind of tax quietly eating away at productivity in workplaces everywhere — one you won’t find on any government form.
The Real “Tax” on Modern Workplaces
It’s called the communication tax, a term made popular by Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky, who warned that every new employee adds complexity — and more meetings. His simple idea? The larger a team grows, the more time gets lost in coordination, catch-ups, and endless emails.
The logic is hard to ignore. In theory, hiring more people should spread the workload and boost productivity. In practice, it often creates new bottlenecks. With each added person comes extra management, extra reporting, and extra time spent keeping everyone on the same page.
According to Gallup data, the average number of direct reports per manager has jumped from about 11 in 2024 to over 12 in 2025 — a near 50% increase since the early 2010s, reports The Age. Meanwhile, Slack’s co-founder once estimated that internal communication alone consumes up to 20% of an employee’s time in small teams — and far more in larger ones.
When Communication Becomes a Cost
The “communication tax” tends to fall hardest on middle managers, who act as translators between the executive suite and the broader workforce. They’re the ones buried in back-to-back meetings, juggling project updates and status reports instead of deep work.
And while collaboration is essential, there’s a tipping point where it becomes counterproductive. Too many voices, too many meetings, and too many approval layers can stall even the best ideas.
Jeff Bezos famously tried to fix that problem with Amazon’s “two pizza rule” — no team should be so big that two pizzas couldn’t feed everyone. In other words, smaller teams tend to move faster, communicate better, and produce more meaningful results.
Finding the Balance
The real challenge isn’t eliminating meetings altogether — it’s knowing when communication helps and when it hinders. Teams built for creativity may need diverse voices, while those focused on execution thrive with fewer hands and clearer direction.
Gallup’s research suggests that the ideal team size doesn’t matter as much as engagement does. A motivated, well-connected team of ten will outperform a disengaged group of fifty every time.
Still, the lesson stands: every extra layer of coordination carries a cost. Whether it’s lost time, unclear accountability, or employee burnout, this hidden tax is quietly draining energy from workplaces everywhere.
Maybe the solution isn’t more meetings or bigger teams — it’s fewer, sharper, and better conversations.
