Warning: Violence, unsavory language. Watch at your own risk. Robert DeNiro as Al Capone in The Untouchables: “A man becomes preeminent, he’s expected to have enthusiasms. Enthusiasms, enthusiasms… What are mine? Baseball! A man stands alone at the plate. This is the time for what? For individual achievement. There he stands alone. But in the […]
This was originally posted Going Concern.com on August 12, 2009. …there’s definitely collusion/shenanigans going on amongst the big 4 for compensation along with extending dates for promotions. Ratings manipulation is also going on along with unfair treatment of those that tried to go above and beyond….” Both Deloitte and KPMG admitted last fall that job […]
In a move that was too big to hide, PricewaterhouseCoopers on Thursday cut between 500-800 professionals from its internal IT organization. Multiple sources are telling me the number is closer to 800. In any event, PwC admits, in an unprecedented press release, that there is no severance offered because they are giving professionals until the end of the year to find other jobs.
The events of last week, including those that occurred in the world around us, have prompted me to formalize my Comments Policy and Privacy Policy/Terms of Use. These policies, to be honest, were always my standard operating procedure, but given the heightened and constant nature of the threats all around us, it’s time to commit them to print. I want you to know what they are, so you can act accordingly both on and off the site.
New US Advisory Leader, Dana McIlwain laid out the bad news: The time has come to cut. Average utilization is hovering at 69%. Cash collections are millions short. Campus recruiting for Advisory has been stopped cold. Business sucks and then there’s the 800+ BearingPoint folks to absorb. On November 11th the rank and file partners, fortified after training and coaching by HR via a webcast in the next few days, will chop 300+ professionals from PwC Advisory…
A post about the layoffs in Deloitte last August/September became a collection of not only spontaneous and real-time updates on the ongoing cuts at that firm and others but a great repository of insight about firm structure, the business model, audit vs. advisory and a host of other topics. Take a look.
As I have said before, in particular with regard to the layoffs at PwC in February that have continued since, the Big 4 do not like to talk about cuts. They have a habit of reducing staff surgically, in a thousand little cuts, across practices, geographies, offices, so that each person thinks they are unique. Those cut are often made to feel inferior and a failure, as most often the cuts are characterized as performance related and a result of forced ranking techniques. I also see the survivor rationalization too – when survivors dis’ those cut by saying they just “couldn’t make it in the Big 4” or they were “dead wood.” Helps cut down on ongoing morale problems when the remaining staff feel more secure, safe, because they think they are superior.
Ms. Harrington made it clear on the phone, and in her statement, that the vast majority of cuts were based on the negative economic reality the firm is facing. What’s frustrating to professionals, both those cut and those left behind, is why the firms are not better at planning and forecasting.
As we’ve seen from the comments on my PwC layoff post and other mail I’ve received, PwC is not the only one to be reducing staff via “counseling out” , “forced ranking” , “the Italian greyhounds ate the workpapers…”, or whatever other excuse they give. Both Deloitte and KPMG have also seen cuts, per my […]
