One EY Employee Is Getting Antsy About the Prospect of More Layoffs Next Year

With the stench of the performance-based separations layoffs from a couple months ago still lingering in the air at EY, one person who survived the wide-ranging job cuts told us recently that (s)he is already worried about a similar situation happening across the firm in 2021.

Here’s what this EYer said:

A few weeks ago, the US Managing Partner had addressed the question of layoffs on the all hands call saying that the firm would not be doing layoffs anymore and if anyone was under consideration to be laid off for performance-related reasons, it would go through the standard process of a Performance Improvement Plan (PIP). …

This right here is interesting in and of itself because many of the people let go from EY in September told us they lost their jobs due to performance issues even though they weren’t on a PIP and had received no negative feedback from their superiors.

Even EY U.S. Chair Kelly Grier, during an all-hands webcast on Sept. 23, acknowledged that people were let go for performance without being on a PIP “in keeping with high-performing culture,” according to a source.

EY just can’t get out of its own way lately. Not only did the firm kick hundreds of people to the curb due to quote-on-quote “performance” but it went to unlimited PTO, not only to cut costs but to eliminate employees’ “entitlement mentality,” claiming unlimited PTO is what EYers wanted when in fact they wanted no such thing and have voiced their displeasure here, on Reddit, and on Fishbowl.

Anyway, back to our concerned EYer:

However, my practice leader in [REDACTED] told me the information on the all-hands cast most likely only applies till the end of the year or early next year and that there may be a chance of layoffs again. In this event, those with lower utilization would be subject to layoffs without a PIP. He was telling me this since our group hired a bunch of new staff just before pandemic, the work has been spread thin at our group, and everyone’s utilization is low but since EY protects new hires (and i’m not a new hire), i am at risk of being laid off if company wide cuts come early next year.

This information is in direct conflict with the all-hands call info.

It seems like the practice leader of this person’s group doesn’t really believe the PIP spiel in the recent all-hands call either:

He said that the information from the all-hands cast needed to be taken with a grain of salt. He said that due to Covid, the firm’s natural employer turnover didn’t take place and so there appears to be excess capacity across the firm. Layoffs would also depend on the economic environment and work coming in. If the economic outlook improves, layoffs are less likely or not likely to happen. If layoffs are to happen, cuts are happening based on utilization and reviews. He seemed to imply that layoffs would not happen this calendar year (till Dec 31st) but next calendar year (from Jan 1 onward) the current layoff information/policy may not be applicable.

Will there be performance-based separations layoffs at EY in calendar-year 2021? Probably. There will probably be job cuts at Deloitte, PwC, and KPMG too next year, like there were this year.

All anyone can do at this point is control what you can control. And update your résumé, just in case.

Related articles:

Layoff Watch ’20: Apparently It’s Doomsday for Some at EY
An Open Letter to EY Management
EY Changes Its Vacation Policy, Oh and BTW They’re Not Paying Out Accrued PTO If You “Leave”
Question of the Day: Is EY the New KPMG?