We all know about income tax, GST, and stamp duty. But there\u2019s another kind of tax quietly eating away at productivity in workplaces everywhere \u2014 one you won\u2019t find on any government form.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It\u2019s called the communication tax, a term made popular by Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky, who warned that every new employee adds complexity \u2014 and more meetings. His simple idea? The larger a team grows, the more time gets lost in coordination, catch-ups, and endless emails.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
According to Gallup data, the average number of direct reports per manager has jumped from about 11 in 2024 to over 12 in 2025 \u2014 a near 50% increase since the early 2010s, reports The Age<\/a>. Meanwhile, Slack\u2019s co-founder once estimated that internal communication alone consumes up to 20% of an employee\u2019s time in small teams \u2014 and far more in larger ones.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The \u201ccommunication tax\u201d tends to fall hardest on middle managers, who act as translators between the executive suite and the broader workforce. They\u2019re the ones buried in back-to-back meetings, juggling project updates and status reports instead of deep work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n And while collaboration is essential, there\u2019s a tipping point where it becomes counterproductive. Too many voices, too many meetings, and too many approval layers can stall even the best ideas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Jeff Bezos famously tried to fix that problem with Amazon\u2019s \u201ctwo pizza rule\u201d \u2014 no team should be so big that two pizzas couldn\u2019t feed everyone. In other words, smaller teams tend to move faster, communicate better, and produce more meaningful results.<\/p>\n\n\n\nWhen Communication Becomes a Cost<\/h2>\n\n\n\n