The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. GS intends to eliminate more than 1,300 employees from its global workforce as part of its annual performance review process to cull the low performers. The bank will likely cut jobs between 3% and 4% across the bank’s various divisions.
Following the release of this news, Goldman’s shares gained nearly 1%. Goldman had paused “strategic resource assessment,” or SRA during the COVID-19 pandemic. Nonetheless, the bank resumed the practice of SRA in 2022, with the workforce reductions falling at the lower end of its historical range.
The layoff plan follows Goldman's decision to reduce the workforce in January 2023 due to a slowdown in deal-making activities and a cut to bonuses. Despite this, Goldman is expected to have more employees in 2024 compared with 2023.
Global deal-making has rebounded in the first half of 2024, and it is expected to witness a strong rebound by the end of this year, despite fears of a possible economic downturn.
Goldman's layoff plans are part of a larger plan to maximize resources while remaining profitable in a volatile market. GS trims its workforce annually based on several performance factors that have fluctuated over the years based on market conditions and its financial outlook.
Possible Factors Behind Goldman's Layoffs
Among these performance factors, in-office attendance is one of them. During and after the pandemic, Goldman relaxed its office attendance policies. However, the bank is now tightening its guidelines for employees who do not regularly come into the office. Also, an unsatisfactory incentive season for staff members, many of whom contributed to fewer deals in 2023, has led GS to take this step.
The Federal Reserve is expected to lower interest rates this month, which is likely to affect Goldman's profit margins. As a result, the bank is putting cost-cutting measures into place, including the recent layoffs, to maximize profits in a challenging financial environment.
Some other major banks have taken a similar approach to lay off employees to reduce costs and tackle the challenging economic environment better.
Last week, HSBC Holdings plc’s HSBC chief executive officer, Georges Elhedery, reportedly considered a significant organizational transformation to streamline its operations, according to a Bloomberg report. Elhedery mulls plans that could include cutting layers of middle management and reducing the number of country heads across HSBC’s global footprint.
Similarly, Barclays PLC BCS has also downsized its organization as part of larger cost-cutting programs. This move aligns with BCS’ £2 billion cost-cutting program to boost profitability.
Final View on Goldman’s Layoff Plans
The idea of laying off employees is indicative of a broader trend in the banking sector amid economic pressure. By reducing the workforce, GS aims to reduce costs, streamline operations and better align its resources with current market conditions.
While cutting jobs can lead to immediate cost savings, it often opens room for significant challenges. If layoffs are not managed carefully, they can lead to operational disruptions, particularly if key roles are left unfilled or remaining employees are overworked with additional responsibilities.
In the past six months, GS’ shares have gained 30.1% compared with the industry’s growth of 12.1%.
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
Goldman currently carries Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). You can see the complete list of today's Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.
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