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Amid centenary celebrations, McKinsey announces 10% layoffs worldwide
- IBJ Bureau
- Dec 16, 2025
McKinsey & Company is planning to reduce staffing in non-client-facing roles by about 10 per cent, potentially affecting a few thousand employees around the world. The reductions would be phased in over the next 18 to 24 months and are expected to be completed by 2027.
McKinsey is one of the world’s most prestigious consulting firms and a long-time adviser to corporations on how to streamline operations. Now, when they are celebrating their 100th anniversary next year, they are also looking to trim their own workforce.
Announcing the upcoming layoffs, a McKinsey spokesperson has said: “As our firm marks its 100th year, we are operating in a moment shaped by rapid advances in AI that are transforming business and society. Just as we are partnering with clients to strengthen their organisations, we are on our own journey to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of our support functions.”
This is not McKinsey’s first round of layoffs. The firm had expanded from 17,000 employees in 2012 to 45,000 in the next 10 years. Now, they have gone down to under 40,000 with gradual reductions.
In 2023, McKinsey started job cuts and slashed up to 2,000 jobs in back-office and support functions. The layoffs were a part of an internal restructuring initiative called Project Magnolia, aimed at reducing support roles to free up resources for client-focused hiring.
In 2024, around 400 people were laid off, mainly impacting technical specialists across design, data engineering, cloud and software teams.
Just weeks ago, McKinsey cut around 200 tech jobs as a part of a broader shift toward AI-focused operations. In August, reports had said that McKinsey had begun deploying thousands of internal AI agents to automate tasks, once handled by junior consultants. Overall, they have reduced headcount by 5,000 in the last five years.
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