Dropping the Axe: PwC Slashes Up to 1,500 Jobs in American Division
PwC US to Trim 1,500 Jobs
Get ready to say adios to around 1,500 roles at PwC in the US, as the multinational consultancy juggernaut takes a hard look at its business and decides to trim the fat.
According to the Financial Times, this tough decision will affect around 2% of the firm's US workforce of 75,000, mainly targeting its audit and tax divisions. Last week, a virtual meeting was held to inform those who didn't make the cut.
In a statement, PwC expressed empathy for those affected, acknowledging the impact of their decisions on their employees. The company has been operating on unusually low attrition rates for several years, making this step necessary.
Earlier this year, PwC in the UK saw similar moves, cutting their partnership ranks and pausing tech apprenticeships to protect partner profits amid a downturn in the consultancy sector. Firms like Deloitte, EY, and KPMG have also made thousands of redundancies in recent years as the industry grapples with its own profitability problems.
City AM reported in December that 900 jobs were cut last year at UK Big Four firms, following 1,800 jobs in 2023. Current trends in the sector suggest that companies are adjusting headcount to match current business needs rather than relying on natural attrition, with sector-specific challenges often leading the way. These adjustments are also causing early-career employees and recent hires to feel the burn.
Recruitment efforts are also slowing, with firms like PwC scaling back campus recruitment even while honoring prior offers, reflecting a cautious approach to future hiring.
So there you have it – tough times for some, but survival of the fittest for the Big Four. It's all about trading the old for the new as companies respond to the ever-evolving business landscape with strategic workforce adjustments.
In the face of the challenging business landscape, PwC is trimming its workforce, decreasing up to 1,500 roles, with the impact primarily felt in the audit and tax divisions, demonstrating a need to restructure finance operations for the firm's American division.
The decision to make these job cuts underscores the wider issue of profitability in the consultancy sector, as firms like Deloitte, EY, and KPMG have also been forced to make substantial redundancies in recent years.
