“You’ve changed.”

It’s not just a cliché you’ve heard in hundreds of coming-of-age films, when the protagonist’s bestie inevitably feels left behind on their journey. It’s also a sentiment in corporate America, among employees who feel their employers have transformed beyond recognition.

Companies are always changing, and maintaining what makes their organization unique is a challenge that’s attracted interest from the likes of HR leaders, researchers, CEOs, and more.

Valvoline, the automotive services chain, is familiar with change, and not just because it specializes in oil changes. Since selling its product business to Saudi Arabian petrol behemoth Aramco in 2023, and focusing on growing its remaining retail operations, it’s kept its attention on maintaining its corporate culture amid a period of significant change for its retail business.

For more on how Valvoline’s CPO maintained the company’s culture during a period of major changes, keep reading here.—PM

Layoffs have reached historic highs this year, and the AI arms race could be partly to blame.

There were 1,099,500 million job cuts between January and October, up 65% from the same period in 2024, a recent report from consulting firm Challenger, Grey, and Christmas found. And some of those layoffs affected HR departments. Amazon announced last month a 30,000-employee reduction-in-force (RIF) that has, and will continue to, affect HR pros. And Google earlier this year offered a buyout to employees in its people ops function.

People leaders, who largely lead employees through RIFs, may now find themselves on the chopping block, experts told HR Brew. However, it’s not all doom and gloom.

For more on the challenges, and opportunities, ahead for HR, keep reading here.—MC

Employees at Big Four firms on both sides of the Atlantic got some bad news last week. In the US, PwC cut 150 business support staff, the Wall Street Journal reported, following news that its annual report showed it trimmed 5,600 positions in FY 2025. In the UK, KPMG stopped giving junior auditors overtime pay during busy season, according to the Financial Times (FT).

Both PwC and KPMG, and the accounting field as a whole, have experienced slowing revenue growth. PwC’s revenue, for instance, was only up 2.9% in FY 2025, down from 3.7% in FY 2024, and 9.9% in 2023.

The decline follows a period of high post-pandemic demand for consulting, during which advisory services accounted for about half the Big Four’s revenue and many firms went on a hiring spree. The boom started to dwindle in 2023, when Deloitte, EY, and KPMG made staff cuts. PwC US followed suit, laying off around 1,800 people in October 2024 and 1,500 more in May 2025.

For more on the cost-cutting measures hitting Big Four staff, keep reading on CFO Brew.—CV