Deloitte has laid off around 250 employees in the UK who were considered underperforming, marking the third round of job cuts in just over a year. The layoffs, which affected staff across Deloitte’s advisory divisions, were part of the company’s regular “performance management processes,” according to sources familiar with the situation.
Deloitte, is a British multinational professional services network based in London, England. Deloitte is the largest professional services network by revenue and number of employees in the world and is considered one of the Big Four accounting firms, along with EY, KPMG, and PwC.
These job cuts represent about 1% of Deloitte’s UK workforce. The layoffs were made quietly, without a formal announcement to the wider company or specific service lines, the sources told the Financial Times.
The cuts come shortly after Deloitte revealed that its 749 equity partners in the UK earned an average of over £1 million (€1.2 million) for the fourth consecutive year, despite a slowdown in the firm’s sales growth over the past financial year. Deloitte’s UK senior partner and chief executive, Richard Houston, had earlier mentioned that the firm needed to “carefully consider our cost base and make some difficult choices this year.”
Deloitte had previously warned of job cuts in September last year, citing a decrease in demand for its services. In February, the firm cut 100 roles as part of a restructuring of its corporate advisory division. The latest cuts highlight the ongoing challenges facing the broader consulting market in the UK, where firms have seen a dip in business.
Revenue from Deloitte’s consulting division, its largest service line, fell by 1% in the year ending May 2024, while its financial advisory services saw a 2% decline during the same period.
Like its rivals in the “Big Four” – EY, KPMG, and PwC – Deloitte expanded its workforce significantly during and after the pandemic to meet rising demand. However, all four firms have had to reduce staff numbers in response to the recent market slowdown.
Deloitte has not made any public or firm-wide announcements about the latest job cuts, and some of the affected employees have been required to sign non-disclosure agreements, a source said. Another source added that these employees received appropriate notice payments.
This discreet approach to layoffs is similar to the “silent lay-offs” carried out by rival firm PwC earlier this year, where affected employees were advised not to inform colleagues of the reasons behind their departure and were given “suggested wording” for their farewell messages.
Deloitte has also reorganized its UK operations recently as part of a global restructuring. The firm has streamlined its service lines, reducing them from five business units to four: audit and assurance; strategy, risk, and transactions; technology and transformation; and tax and legal.
