Business Is So Slow McKinsey Is Paying Managers to Find a New Job
Over the weekend, The Times published a bit of a scary article about how the consulting business is so slow over there in the UK McKinsey is now trying to force out some of its engagement managers and associate partners. But they aren’t laying them off right away.
McKinsey is offering to pay hundreds of its senior employees to leave the firm and look for work elsewhere, the latest attempt by the consulting giant to reduce staff amid a sector-wide downturn.
Managers at the UK side of the business are being given the chance to spend up to nine months “on search”, an internal phrase referring to employees who are spending their time looking for a new job, rather than working on client projects.
While they’re on the job hunt, staff marked for deletion will still get their full salary and have even been offered help polishing up their CVs. But if they can’t secure a new job when the nine months is up, they’re out.
Per The Times, a similar initiative is underway here in the US:
Managers at the US firm have received similar offers but the period of time allowed to search for work may differ, according to those familiar with the situation. It is understood that hundreds of employees between the two firms will be weighing up these proposals, although final numbers are still being worked out.
It’s said McKinsey is contending with lower-than-expected attrition along with low demand for whatever it is they do, much like their counterparts at Big 4 firms here and across the globe. The UK consulting market is even drier than our own; Deloitte, EY, KPMG, and PwC have all logged their own cuts of hundreds of staff in the past year.
Why McKinsey is paying staff to leave [The Times]
