Goldman Sachs (NYSE:GS) is planning to commence reductions in staff starting in April, sources with knowledge of the situation said. Rather than executing the bank's customary single, large-scale head count review in the spring, management intends to carry out several smaller rounds of job cuts beginning next month, with further reductions projected to continue into the summer.
Historically, Goldman has conducted broad head count reductions in both spring and fall. Those firmwide exercises - carried out under a process known as the Strategic Resource Assessment, or SRA - have in past years removed as many as several thousand positions at once by trimming roughly the bottom 5% of its global workforce.
People familiar with the plan said the bank will skip its typical spring SRA this year and instead rely on staggered cuts. The change is being made to allow divisional leaders more discretion over timing, according to one person with direct knowledge, so that business units do not have to wait for a months-long firmwide review to adjust staffing levels.
Sources indicated the reductions will span the firm's operations - from the investment bank to asset and wealth management - though they are expected to be materially smaller than the round of cuts implemented last March. That earlier effort targeted up to 5% of the workforce, a figure that could have represented as many as 2,300 jobs.
While precise head counts and the schedule for each tranche of reductions were not provided by the people who spoke to the reporters, the overall approach marks a departure from Goldman's established cadence of concentrated, periodic reviews. By moving to rolling, smaller-scale reductions, the bank aims to give business leaders more immediate control over staffing choices and timing.
What remains clear from the accounts provided:
- Goldman plans to begin staff reductions in April, with additional rounds running through the summer.
- The bank is forgoing its usual spring SRA in favor of staggered cuts to give divisional leaders more control over timing.
- Reductions are expected across business lines but will likely be smaller than the prior March effort that targeted up to 5% of the global workforce, which could have equated to roughly 2,300 jobs.