Tuesday 27 September 2022 02:41 AM Goldman Sachs fires mid-level bankers after dishing out bonuses and hiking ... trends now

Goldman Sachs has launched a wave of mass layoffs of workers across the US after dishing out cushy bonuses and high salaries during pandemic - amid an anticipated drop in earnings as the economy slows.

The investment-banking division of the Wall Street giant launched the effort last week, according to a report, firing hundreds of bankers in offices across the globe, as it looks to rein in expenses and weed out low-performing employees.

Employees at all levels were affected by the cull, sources said - with the brunt of the effort being felt by senior-to-mid-level staffers, such as several senior associates and vice presidents.

Nearly a dozen bankers in the prestigious bank's technology, media and telecommunications division were fired alone. 

Consumer retail, health care and industrials divisions were all reportedly hit by layoffs, which had been anticipated after the firm said back in July that it planned to slow hiring and reinstate annual performance reviews, Bloomberg reported. 

That announcement came as the bank recorded a marked 40 percent drop in earnings this year alone after seeing a brief business boom during the pandemic.

This spurred Goldman brass to at the time pause its-then routine layoff process, and dish out an array of fancy perks in an effort to retain staff amid increased demand for workers across the industry.

Prior to the pandemic, Goldman annually nixed roughly 1 to 5 percent of staffers from its workforce every year. This round of layoffs are on the lower end of that range, insiders have said - but it still represents a drastic turn from the company's attitude less than a year ago, when it was hiking salaries and dishing out perks. 

It's been 'a tough week,' one source with knowledge of the investment firm's inner workings told Insider of the supposed sackings, which were reported by the outlet on Friday.

An insider also shared how earlier in the day staffers at the firm's technology, media, and telecommunications department at both its New York and San Francisco officers were met with pink slips by the end of the day.

Other divisions that felt the impact of the cuts, sources said, included consumer retail, healthcare, and industrials.   

All talent was affected by the cull, one insider said, revealing that workers from all levels found themselves out of a job - from its most junior bankers to its managing directors.

It was not immediately clear from initial reports how many staffers were fired exactly - but it appears that the number is in the hundreds.

An insider shared how brass for the big bank were carefully calculating the layoffs, and not nixing too many senior or junior employees.

'It's a balancing act. You can't cut too many of the senior bankers because even though they are costly, they are the one who bring in more business,' the source explained. 'And junior bankers, yes they're cheaper, but if the overall business is slow, they don't have much work to do.' 

The firm had 47,000 employees at the end of the second quarter and a one percent cut to staffing would be a reduction of about 500 bankers.