The large layoffs throughout tech firms have demonstrated the cruel actuality that companies face when readjusting from the COVID-19 hiring boom. The consulting area has been going through an analogous reckoning as slowing enterprise and inflated headcounts meet up with among the trade majors.
Every of the “Big Four” consulting powerhouses—EY, KPMG, PwC and Deloitte introduced layoffs within the U.Okay. final yr, impacting a whole bunch of staffers, reflecting the cost-cutting efforts the companies are endeavor in response to cooling enterprise.
Now, in response to the persisting slowdown, PwC U.Okay. is planning to increase graduate applications—as an alternative of selling those that are a part of this system, as is often the case—as there isn’t practically sufficient work on the senior affiliate degree, the Financial Times reported Monday.
Final week, PwC advised near 100 graduates that they gained’t be promoted in July, however as an alternative would stay a part of the graduate program for an extra six months till subsequent January, the outlet reported. The rationale? Sluggish demand for consulting companies and headcount pressures.
This system is designed for early-career professionals, and a promotion usually comes with a change in title and hike in pay. PwC’s transfer will affect graduates who joined the agency’s consulting division in fall 2022—particularly these a part of the October and November consumption that yr. Those that joined a month earlier, in September, are eligible to be promoted this July.
A consultant from PwC advised Fortune by way of e-mail that the agency is “balancing business demand with our desire to support and train our graduates. A short delay in promotion is clearly disappointing for those affected but allows us to support careers over the longer-term.”
The spokesperson additionally added that PwC has “recruited over 3,500 graduates and school leavers since September 2022—the delay applies to 90 graduates in our consulting practice.”
Consulting troubles
The choice to increase the graduate program and push again promotions is the most recent retrenchment by the sprawling consulting trade, which has been retreating for a number of months now. Consulting was hit by the “Great Resignation” throughout the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic, however the tables have turned sharply because the companies now scramble to deal with rising prices and plummeting demand for its companies.
Skilled companies resembling consulting have been amongst U.Okay.’s largest recruiters of latest graduates in 2023, in accordance with market research firm High Fliers. Now, the trade’s behemoths have frozen pay and minimize jobs in response to the traits hurting consulting, which have resulted in staff holding on to their jobs—not like a couple of years in the past, when many have been quitting in seek for higher pay and dealing circumstances. This has additionally led to fewer job openings inside consulting, Bloomberg reported in September.
PwC U.Okay.’s companions have been paid £906,000 ($1.14 million) on common within the yr to June, down from the earlier yr’s £1.03 million, whereas the group’s earnings for the monetary yr have been £1.3 billion. PwC famous in its annual report that its consulting apply had grown 30%, due to excessive demand from the Center East’s oil and power tasks.
