Deloitte S&O lay offs?

Seeing the extent to which the big D gets hyped here in a constant basis, can a few of you shine some light on why there are a lot of lay offs to be happening in S&O and why campus hiring is minimal? I know Tech and Digital are doing fine. Is Deloitte trying to specialize towards Tech and Digital and move away from strategy? Not hating, just curious given that the consulting market grows rapidly at the moment.

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Spin, spin, spin. Your shit as unabashed Deloitte cheerleader gets old. If OP want the truth, read the following thread: http://www.wallstreetoasis.com/forums/layoffs-at-deloitte or check out people's stories at thelayoff.com. Up or out is a yearly process and is not considered layoffs. Further, people who fall in that category do not typically receive severance which was the case this time around.

Deloitte offered zero MBAs full-time offers this falls other than those who converted their internships should be a good indicator that numbers are down. This is not just a Deloitte thing as PWC also had layoffs earlier in the year. Additionally, my MBB dialed our numbers way back at MBA campuses this past fall. Basically, everyone expected banner growth in 2016 as was the case in 2015 and hired accordingly. However, demand has been soft (or down depending on who you talk to) and as a result, firms are adjusting their on-campus plans.

On the positive side, things have picked up the past few months. However, since it's too late to go back to campus, there has been an increase in the number of experienced hires to fill the gap. If the economy continues to maintain its current pace, there should be nothing to worry about. Consulting is a cyclical industry that requires constantly balancing chargeability and bench.

 

Sorry if this is well known (I'm not on here often anymore) but I saw a couple posts from Hillary2016 and it's clear he/she is biased toward Deloitte. S&O certainly had a number of "waves" of layoffs beyond any "up or out" policy. At firms like MBB, folks are counseled out, or made to understand their performance is low, perhaps given a chance to improve in some cases, and then eventually given time to find other opportunities. At Deloitte, many people were suddenly blindsided with no warnings of low potential/poor performance and told to leave immediately (granted, I believe they got close to ~2 months of severance). This was due to a combination of poor financial planning and poor firm performance. The layoffs persisted even after a couple big waves last year, albeit in smaller numbers. They have even been dialing back recruiting at elite schools like HBS, focusing efforts on more realistic sources. I imagine planning is being improved so this should happen less, but it's not accurate to suggest these layoffs are identical or similar to the counseling out at MBB-type firms. Generally, MBB has a more supportive culture because they perform better and have access to better exit opportunities for their alumni. Deloitte S&O is just not as equipped to provide this and has a more cutthroat, short-sighted view on things due both to circumstance (their market position and ability to sell work) and poor vision from the office leadership teams and senior leaders. That being said, if you perform well you can have a nice career there, but you need a little luck to get on the right projects with the right people. Also, playing the game politically there is worse than other firms if you want to stay long-term because a lot of the office leadership teams are very old-school Deloitte and therefore not as smart nor pleasant as those doing the more interesting work. Hope that helps!

 

Can confirm same with PwC. Few folks in M&A advisory team were let go without any warning of low performance. They got their biggest incoming and intern class this year but let go people.

 

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