Audit and accounting firm, KPMG, has announced mass layoff of employees in the UK. In the announcement, KPMG blamed a subdued deals market and a tough economic environment as the main cause for the layoff.
Moreover, KPMG explained that the challenges had reduced demand for the mega accounting firm’s services.
“A challenging economic environment has driven a softening in a number of markets, including the deal markets. These conditions have impacted demand in certain areas as some clients have chosen to pause or delay projects,” KPMG stated.
According to the company, the redundancies are set to affect about 110 people.
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Previous KPMG layoffs in 2023
The firm announced job cuts after another mass layoff in June 2023 that saw 125 employees leave the company.
The previous KPMG job cuts were set to affect 2.3 per cent of its UK consultants.
According to the Financial Times, these job cuts were a last resort after other steps such as reallocating staff to divisions with more work, said a person familiar with the matter.
On the question of redundancies, KPMG stated that the laid-off employees would be supported throughout the entire process.
“Our people are at the heart of our firm and our priority is to support them throughout this consultation,” KPMG stated.
KPMG in Kenya
KPMG is an accounting and auditing firm and one of the Big Four accounting organizations, along with Ernst & Young, Deloitte, and PwC.
The firm has offices in Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania, Uganda under the KPMG East Africa Limited.
Consequently, in Kenya, the KPMG offices are in the Waiyaki Way area of Nairobi.
In October,2023, former KPMG East Africa boss, Nigel Smith sued the tax advisory firm for alleged breached contract.
He sought 150 million from the firm after what he termed as constructive dismissal in December 2022.
LinkedIn announces mass layoffs of employees
In recent times, Microsoft owned social media app, LinkedIn announced a set of mass layoffs.
On Monday, LinkedIn announced the redundancy of 668 people across its engineering, product, talent, and finance teams.
Moreover, the move is part of LinkedIn’s broader restructuring of their operations as it drives most of its resources towards artificial intelligence.
“Talent changes are a difficult, but necessary and regular part of managing our business,” LinkedIn explained.
This mass layoff follows another round in May that saw LinkedIn cut off 716 positions.
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Consequently, it shut down the job’s app in mainland China.
Commenting on the issue, LinkedIn CEO, Ryan Roslansky stated that the decision was made due to changes in customer behavior and slower revenue growth.
According to digital trends monitor, Data Reportal, LinkedIn had 3.50 million users in Kenya in early 2023.
Furthermore, the data reveals that the LinkedIn userbase increased by 6.1 percent (200,000 users) between October 2022 and January 2023.