Just the other day Adrienne and I were chatting on Slack about which public accounting firms among the top 15 or so in the U.S. have we not heard a peep about in regards to job cuts, pay cuts, or furloughs. One firm brought up was Plante Moran. The other was CohnReznick.
Interesting timing because on Saturday, we were sent this tip:
CohnReznick is playing the layoff game well. Continuing to cut people slowly to stay off your website. Ha ha. I used to work there and get the scoop from [SOMEONE]. All partners took pay cut this week and they furloughed 40 to 50 Practice Management people this week. Forced some partners to retire early. They were taken off website yesterday.
CR really had kept all this on the down low because that was the first we heard of any type of cuts going on there. Until today.
According to multiple sources, CohnReznick did indeed make performance-based cuts, has furloughed several employees, and will slash most people’s pay starting next month, among other cost-cutting measures.
Here’s what we’ve learned so far:
Headcount reductions
One source told us:
Terminations due to poor performance, but the timeline was shorter than usual. I think that translates to no Performance Improvement Plan/warning period.
The number of people let go by CR differs according to the people who reached out to us. One said there were 50 terminations throughout April. Another told us there have already been two rounds of performance-based cuts, impacting approximately 125 people.
Furloughs
Again, we’ve heard a couple of different numbers of people furloughed by CohnReznick. One person said about 50; another said approximately 90. One person on Reddit wrote that “about 140 people were laid off or furloughed” so that’s probably a decent estimate.
The furloughs reportedly started on May 1 and will range from 30 to 120 days. Furloughed employees will receive benefits, we were told.
Pay cuts
Salary reductions will be on a sliding scale and will be effective from June 1 until Sept. 30. They are:
- Less than $52,000: No pay cut
- $52,000 to $74,999: 7%
- $75,000 to $99,999: 8%
- $100,000 to $149,999: 9%
- More than $150,000: 10%
We were also told that partners have already taken about a 25% pay cut (or will over the course of the next few months).
Other measures
A source summarized a few other things going on at CohnReznick:
Mandatory 37.5 hours PTO must be taken before 7/31. Offering “unpaid leave sabbaticals” up to 90 days for anyone interested, “most benefits including medical” will remain intact during unpaid leave. Any salary adjustments or bonuses connected to summer promotions are deferred to the fall.
Did we miss anything? If you work at CohnReznick and have any other information to provide, let us know by either emailing or texting us using the contact info below.
