Management Consulting Services NAICS 541611

Apr 21, 2026 - Rightsizing Staff Through Mega-Layoffs Becoming More Common

• US companies are increasingly embracing large-scale layoffs, with firms like Snap, Block, and Amazon recently cutting anywhere from 16% to 40% of their workforces in single sweeping moves. Rather than being seen as a sign of trouble, these mass cuts are now rewarded by investors with stock bumps and praise. Block's CFO noted that executives from other companies have been reaching out to replicate their playbook. The driving forces are a mix of pandemic-era overhiring corrections, the soaring costs of building AI, and a broader shift in how leadership views large teams - increasingly as a drag on performance rather than an asset. While AI is often cited as justification for job cuts, most executives acknowledge it isn't directly replacing workers yet. The human toll is real: white-collar unemployment is rising, with college-educated workers under 35 now facing higher joblessness than those with only two-year degrees.
• A survey of about 750 CFOs by the National Bureau of Economic Research finds AI's near-term job impact modest overall (about a 0.4% headcount reduction expected in 2026) but the effects are uneven. Routine, clerical, and administrative roles face the clearest displacement risk while professional services workers like architects, engineers, and analysts are more likely to see AI enhance their productivity than eliminate their positions, at least for now. That protection may not last, as economists note the longer-term picture remains uncertain, but the more immediate concern for professional services pipelines is that the administrative and clerical roles being cut often serve as entry points to professional careers. As those stepping-stone jobs disappear, younger workers trying to break into fields like finance, consulting, or law may find fewer footholds, potentially creating a talent pipeline problem for professional services firms down the road.

• According to a Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) study of nearly 2,000 members, 13% of organizations are already using AI-powered tools in their performance review processes. Managers are finding the technology useful for improving clarity, adjusting tone, and connecting employee accomplishments to business goals, but experts warn that over-reliance can lead to factual errors, generic feedback, and eroded employee trust. To get the most out of AI, managers should provide detailed, specific information - including on intangibles like attitude and peer relationships - and always verify the output before it reaches an employee. Privacy is also a serious concern: entering sensitive employee data or confidential vendor information into external AI systems can violate company policy. Human resources experts recommend using AI as an enhancer of human judgment, instead of as a substitute for it.
• Corporate board diversity is quietly sliding back toward pre-DEI norms as political and investor pressure eases. A Wall Street Journal analysis of S&P 500 board data from PeopleReturn shows companies are adding women and minority directors no faster than they did a decade ago, before diversity policies became widespread, and well below the post-2020 peak. Nearly three-quarters of last year’s new directors were men, and about four in five were white - roughly in line with 2016 levels. Companies have been dropping formal diversity policies, while influential adopters have backed off: banks such as Goldman Sachs scrapped board diversity requirements, major investors like BlackRock have relaxed targets, and proxy advisers no longer factor demographics into voting guidance. Court rulings striking down board diversity rules tied to Nasdaq and California have reinforced the pullback.