Dive Brief:
- Goldman Sachs’ annual workforce cull is coming early, efinancialcareers.com reported, citing unnamed sources. Right-sizing is allegedly set to begin in May rather than the usual September.
- Roughly 3% to 5% of employees are expected to be cut, Bloomberg reported, citing a person familiar with the matter. That would equate to a figure between 1,395 and 2,325 jobs, based on the bank’s reported headcount of 46,500 as of December.
- This year’s cull is set to have a particular focus on vice presidents. Goldman’s CEO, David Solomon, told senior executives the bank has hired too many VPs in proportion with other staff, The Wall Street Journal reported, citing people familiar with the matter.
Dive Insight:
The “strategic resource assessment” – SRA for short – has become an expected recurrence at Goldman, usually encompassing between 1% and 5% of employees, often the lowest performers.
“Like other banks, this is part of our normal, annual talent management process,” a Goldman spokesperson said. “We don’t comment on the specifics in any given year.”
Setting the workforce reduction for May, though, would return the timing of the annual cull to what it was before it was paused during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The scope of cuts, though, is often vague and sometimes disputed.
Tony Fratto, a Goldman spokesperson, told Banking Dive in September that reports that last year’s cull would affect 3% to 4% of Goldman’s global workforce – 1,300 to 1,800 at time – were inaccurate.
“Our annual talent reviews are normal, standard and customary, but otherwise unremarkable,” Fratto said at the time. “We expect to have more people working at Goldman Sachs in 2024 than 2023.”
Indeed, the bank ended the year with 46,500 employees, compared with 44,300 six months earlier.
Some years, the cuts are deeper than others. Goldman saw at least four rounds of layoffs in 2023 – starting with a 3,200-job cut in January – as the bank sought to pivot away from its foray into consumer banking and embrace its historic strengths.
But as recently as January’s quarterly earnings call, Solomon said “we believe there are significant opportunities to drive further efficiencies.” The comment came as the bank reported $14 billion in profits across 2024. Goldman’s stock price, too, has jumped more than 52% in the past year, according to Yahoo Finance.
