The 650 employees of consulting and auditing firmPricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) will take turns to stay at home fortwo weeks.
The leader of the consulting and auditing market,PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) Romania, with 41 million euros inturnover in the 2008 fiscal year, will send all employees on amandatory 15-day unpaid leave as part of a cost-cuttingstrategy.
The measure will be implemented in the October 2009 - June 2010period, and targets all employees, who will take turns staying athome.
"Ever since the first signs of economic crisis showed, westarted a streamlining of our operations and tried to avoid anymeasures that would have a significant impact on employees.However, considering that the economic decline is more severe andlasting longer than was to be expected, and that macroeconomicprospects are not encouraging, we cannot help but take new coststreamlining measures," Vasile Iuga, Country Managing Partner ofPwC Romania, told ZF.
Big Four companies have been among the most active employers forentry-level positions in the past few years, with competition forsuch jobs being one of the toughest on the market. Every yearthousands of university graduates compete over around 400 jobs madeavailable by PwC, Deloitte, Ernst & Young, and KPMG.
Salaries for entry-level positions within a Big Four companystart from 600 - 700 euros, according to market information.
PwC ended last year with 650 employees and announced this summerthat it would hire 100 staff in 2009.
"In a consultancy firm, people are both the main resource andthe main cost. We intend to exit the crisis in the best possibleshape, and, when economic growth is resumed, to be able to offerour clients the same standard of services they have been used to.Unpaid leave is a short-term solution, a temporary measure aimed atgiving us the flexibility needed on the route towards economicrecovery," Iuga added.
