Check out the very corporate goodbye email PwC told staffers to send if they're taking a buyout
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- PwC offered UK buyout packages and directed staff on how to communicate their exits.
- The buyout program was not officially communicated firm-wide and it came with messaging rules.
- The buyout comes amid slowing client work, with PwC and other firms cutting jobs and delaying hires' starts.
After accounting giant PwC offered UK buyout packages in recent weeks, staff were directed on exactly how they should communicate their exits, the Financial Times reported.
The FT saw a note sent to employees that told them they could not talk about the circumstances of their departure. PwC said it could review messages before they were sent out to "a defined group" and that the note could not be "derogatory."
While PwC told employees their goodbye messages could be personalized, the firm offered the following wording, writing, "The content of your comms should follow this approach:"
"Following recent discussions with my [relationship leader], I have taken the decision to leave PwC. It hasn't been an easy decision for me to reach but now that I have, I am excited about what the future holds for me and the new opportunities on the horizon. I have really enjoyed my time at PwC and the opportunity to work with such talented colleagues.'"
PwC did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Business Insider sent outside business hours.
While multiple UK offices were offered the buyout, the program was not officially communicated across the firm. It was not immediately clear how many people accepted buyouts across the UK offices.
The Big Four firms — EY, Deloitte, PWC, and KPMG — have cut hundreds of jobs in the past year as slowing client work forces professional services to rethink their staffing needs.
In November, the FT reported that PwC planned to ax up to 600 jobs in the UK and McKinsey said last year it would slash 1,400 jobs globally.
Accenture offered new hires out of college up to $25,000 to push their start dates back. Other consultancies have pushed entry-level start dates back eight to 11 months, Beth Hendler-Grunt, the president of Next Great Step, a career-counseling service for college graduates, told BI earlier this month.