PwC to lay off 2.4% of their workforce in October
PwC’s U.S. unit announced on Sept. 11 formal layoffs that will impact about 1,800 workers in the United States and offshore.
For the first time in 15 years, accounting giant PricewaterhouseCoopers’s U.S. unit announced on Sept. 11 formal layoffs that will impact about 1,800 workers in the United States and offshore — or about 2.4% of its 75,000 employees. As The Wall Street Journal reports, the move comes as the firm restructures its technology group in the wake of slowing demand for some of its advisory business.
Plans call for notifying affected employees next month, according to the WSJ, and the cuts range from associates to managing directors in such areas as business services, audit, and tax.
“There will be an element of resource action that will impact a relatively small proportion of our people, something that is never easy,” Paul Griggs, who took over as PwC’s U.S. leader in May, wrote in a memo obtained by the WSJ. “Ultimately, we are positioning our firm for the future, creating capacity to invest, and anticipating and reacting to the market opportunities of today and tomorrow.”
According to BloombergTax.com, PwC “avoided layoffs among its U.S. workforce until now, even as other PwC affiliates and Big Four competitors shed thousands of jobs across their largest markets in 2023. The wave of layoffs followed a pandemic-era hiring frenzy two years earlier.”
Last year, Deloitte LLP let 1,200 workers go, KPMG LLP cut 2,700 jobs through a pair of layoffs, and Ernst & Young LLP eliminated 3,000 jobs.
Related: Layoffs unnecessary? Survey reveals half of employers regret cuts
“To remain competitive and position our business for the future, we are continuing to transform areas of our firm and are aligning our workforce to better support our strategy, including attracting and moving the right talent and skill sets to the areas where we need them most,” Tim Grady, PwC’s U.S. chief operating officer, said in a statement to the WSJ.
It should be noted that PwC’s announcement came on the 23rd anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, when five employees were aboard three of the hijacked planes — a fact Griggs reportedly acknowledged in his memo.