McKinsey, staff cuts come for less popular services

Hiring champions under the test of staff cuts. The big four consultancies are notorious for the flood of new hires they make every year, which is why it is news that they may be announcing a downsizing of certain structures, even if the numbers are negligible compared to the overall workforce. News today that McKinsey is starting to cut about 360 jobs to cope with a slowdown in demand for certain services, out of a workforce of over 45,000 employees in 130 cities around the world.

The reductions are global and will affect employees in a variety of divisions including design, data engineering, cloud and software, according to people familiar with the matter. The cuts are expected to impact about 3 per cent of the 12,000 employees considered specialists or with technical skills who work alongside the company's traditional consultants, Bloomberg reported.

"We invest to develop capabilities that match our clients' priorities and scale a small number of others appropriately," a McKinsey spokesperson commented in an emailed statement to the US news agency, adding, "As part of this process, some roles will be eliminated within this limited skill set."

Traditional consultants will not be affected by the layoffs, the source told Blooomberg.

After the pandemic boom period stimulated a wave of hiring in the consulting industry, large consulting groups such as EY and PWC have had to resort to job cuts lately as more and more clients are shelving long-term investments. This is also reflected in stock market prices. Last month, for example, Accenture Plc's shares plummeted after the company disclosed that financial services clients were cutting back on software spending.