ARTICLE TITLE: ‘Consultants no plans to cut staff as virus bites’
Publication Name: Australian Financial Review
Date: 11/3/2019
Author: Edmund Tadros
Summary of Article: ICG CEO and Founder provides his perspective on the potential effect the coronavirus outbreak will have on the consulting industry.
Three of the four big consulting companies that collectively employ more than 20,000 staff have confirmed they have no plans to cut staff in Australia after PM Scott Morrison called on businesses to “hold on to your people” even if there was a downturn.
Consulting firms are the forefront of any downturn as consulting spend is often considered a discretionary expense that can be cut in difficult times by corporates.
David Moloney was quoted: “We predict a significant tightening of demand for any externally imposed labour”
“This is from two main causes, significant impending revenue-driven cost pressures and fears of contamination from suppliers with heavy international exposure,” however he also said “as always, less discretionary work such as compliance, risk and longer term IT builds, as well as fiscally stimulated projects will be resilient to these impact.”
https://www.afr.com/companies/professional-services/consultants-stay-optimistic-in-a-time-of-coronavirus-20200310-p548oc