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Hiring champions put to the test of staff cuts. The big four consultancy firms are known for the batches of new hires they make every year, which is why it is newsworthy that they can announce a downsizing of certain structures, even if the numbers are negligible compared to the overall workforce. Today’s news is that McKinsey is starting to cut around 360 jobs to address a slowdown in demand for some services, out of a workforce of over 45,000 employees in 130 cities around the world.
Which divisions are affected?
The reductions are global and will affect employees across a variety of divisions including engineering, data engineering, cloud and software, according to people familiar with the matter. The cuts are expected to impact about 3% of the 12,000 employees considered specialists or those with technical skills who work alongside the company’s traditional consultants, Bloomberg reported.
“We invest in building capabilities that match our clients’ priorities and scaling a small number of others as appropriate,” a McKinsey spokesperson commented in an emailed statement to the U.S. News Agency, adding: “As part of this process, some roles will be eliminated within this limited number of skills.”
Traditional consultants will not be affected by the layoffs, Bloomberg’s source said.
The post pandemic
After the pandemic boom spurred a wave of hiring in the consultancy sector, large consultancy groups such as EY and PWC have recently had to resort to job cuts as a growing number of clients shelve long-term investments term. The effects are also found in stock market prices. Last month, for example, shares of Accenture Plc fell after the company reported that financial services customers were reducing spending on software.