McKinsey might cull as many as 2,000 back-office workers as the worldwide consulting agency embarks on one of many largest rounds of cuts in its historical past.

The exact variety of job reductions has but to be decided, however might vary from a number of hundred to some thousand, an individual instantly acquainted with the matter stated.

The consultancy confirmed on Tuesday that it was “redesigning the best way our non-client-serving groups function for the primary time in additional than a decade, in order that these groups can successfully assist and scale with our agency”, however didn’t present additional particulars. Information of the job reductions was first reported by Bloomberg.

The restructuring would hit departments corresponding to human sources, know-how and communications, the particular person acquainted with the matter added. McKinsey’s authorized and compliance groups, which have been beefed up within the wake of scandals such because the agency’s work for opioid producers and hyperlinks to corruption in South Africa, won’t be affected.

McKinsey has just lately slowed down hiring of back-office workers, stated a second particular person with information of the matter. Different senior business executives stated they anticipate many consultancies to make cuts to their back- workplace operations to regulate prices.

Nonetheless, McKinsey pressured that it could “proceed to rent client-serving professionals” as demand remained sturdy. The agency has added 17,000 workers over the previous 5 years and now boasts a world workforce of 45,000, with simply over half in “client-facing” roles*.

McKinsey, together with rivals Bain and BCG, final 12 months unveiled one of many greatest rounds of pay rises for brand new hires in additional than 20 years, as booming demand for consulting providers and a good labour market pressured them to compete for workers.

The corporate, which took in a file $15bn in income in 2021, surpassed that determine in 2022, an individual near McKinsey stated, though a exact quantity has not been launched.

Information of looming cuts at McKinsey comes lower than every week after accountancy group KPMG introduced it was culling near 2 per cent of its workers — roughly 700 individuals — within the US, following a pointy slowdown in its consulting enterprise.

The primary of the Large 4 accountancy companies to formally announce redundancies, KPMG had been battling the collapse in merger and acquisition exercise, which hit its deal advisory enterprise, in addition to easing demand for IT and strategic consulting.

*This story has been amended since preliminary publication to appropriate the variety of workers McKinsey has added over the previous 5 years.