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Layoff Watch ’20: Dixon Hughes Goodman Is Letting Go of 125 Mostly Furloughed Employees (UPDATE)

[Updated on July 23 with additional information.]

Another day, another round of layoffs at a top accounting firm in the U.S. This time it’s No. 17 in your scorecard, Dixon Hughes Goodman, which announced on Wednesday that it’s letting go of 125 employees, nearly all of whom were furloughed by the firm on May 1, according to two sources.

A source told us:

“Reduction in workforce” is effective Aug. 1. Everyone was already notified today.

The rest of the DHG employees who were furloughed, which is estimated to be about 200 to 250, will be returning to work on Aug. 1.

According to a source:

CEO Matt Snow said they talked with firm leaders for help with selection [on who stays and who goes]. He also added “We have to have our raises and we have to have our promotions”.

According to an HR rep, the severance package has been increased to 6 months, as well as paying for healthcare during severance period

This is after they added summer interns starting in July.

Back in mid-April, as part of its COVID-19 pandemic cost-cutting response, DHG announced that 17% of its workforce was being furloughed for 90 days starting May 1. The firm also announced all employees would have their salaries reduced on a sliding scale from 5% to 15%, effective May 15. Partners are also supposedly taking a reduction in pay.

A source told us that the employee pay cuts are supposed to end at the beginning of September.

We reached out to DHG for comment on today’s layoffs but the firm has not yet responded to our request.

If anyone else has more information about the layoffs today at DHG, get in touch with us by text or email using the contact info below.

[UPDATE] We heard from a different source on Thursday who confirmed much of what we reported yesterday on the layoffs at Dixon Hughes Goodman and provided some additional context about the decisions that were made.

This person confirmed that employee salaries will return to pre-COVID levels on Sept. 1 and that a little more than 250 DHG employees who were furloughed will be returning to work on Aug. 1 but …

There were also comments made that the firm is still receiving notices that people will not return as they have accepted jobs at other firms/industry.

Also, of the 125 employees who were laid off on Wednesday, this person estimated that 95 to 100 of them were on furlough.

In addition, this source told us:

  • Firm has seen increased turnover and the promotions, salary increases, etc is a way to stem the losses.
  • The layoffs will help address the cost of the retention efforts.
  • Severance packages will be determined by level and time at firm and will start at 4 weeks instead of the usual 2 weeks. Max severance is 6 months.
  • DHG will pay health insurance during severance period.

This person added that the reduction in workforce announcement took many DHGers by surprise:

Over the past few weeks the CEO has shared the firm is doing better than expected and salaries would be returning to pre-covid levels.

We also got another tip today that DHG has pushed back start dates for new hires:

We’ve been told they’re evaluating on case by case basis.

I believe [start dates] varied, but the ones I know of were fall delayed until January.

We’ll continue to update this article as we receive more information. Good luck to those who were impacted by the job cuts yesterday.

Related article:

Pay Cut Watch ’20: Dixon Hughes Goodman Is Furloughing Some, Reducing Salaries For All