The Great Restructuring: Why Talent is Out and Costs Are King

The professional world has seen a significant and unsettling shift in recent years.

The number of layoffs in marketing, technology, and digital industries is staggering.

For someone who has spent years in these fields and is now pivoting toward new challenges, it’s a terrifying landscape.

There was a time when having a job meant doing good work, trusting senior management to steer the ship in the right direction, and believing that your contributions were recognised and appreciated. Those days were when interviews were transparent, the process was at the right pace, and you received tangible feedback. And when you went to the market, there were real opportunities - with salaries that matched your skills, experience, and expertise.

But now? Everything feels different.

We all know the economy isn’t excellent. Companies are struggling, and global instability looms over decision-making. Yet these factors alone don’t explain the whole story.

In industries like marketing, agencies seem stuck in inertia, often too late to adapt to new realities. They’ve clung to the status quo for too long, operating as if yesterday’s models will still work today. The decisions are often reactive and poorly thought through when the inevitable catch-up happens. Add to this a lack of financial cushion, and it’s a perfect storm.

Everybody’s restructuring.

Everybody’s chasing fast-growing opportunities.

Yet everybody’s cutting costs.

The talent available today is incredible. Yet, paradoxically, the opportunities are few and far between. Jobs that do exist come with stagnant salaries - a trend I’ve seen for almost a decade. Your bills are increasing, but your salary isn’t keeping pace. And as companies try to survive, they’re turning to external funding to keep the lights on.

• If you’re a startup founder, you’re looking for VCs, but the demands are daunting. They want fast growth in a market that’s not growing at the pace they demand. The result? Stressed founders, burnt-out teams, and very few opportunities to exit.
• If you’re a marketing agency, you’re a likely target for private equity. These firms are laser-focused on extracting every ounce of value - cutting costs, stripping assets, and delivering profits to investors.
• Meanwhile, holding companies face strategic mandates from global asset managers like BlackRock and Vanguard (which manage $20 Trillion assets), pushing them to prioritise financial resilience.

Across these sectors - VCs, private equity, and asset management - there’s a common refrain: financial resilience in a new economic regime.

• VCs are doubling on safe bets like health tech, cybersecurity, and AI.
• Private equity is targeting companies with solid cash flows and undervalued assets.
• Asset managers are seeking stability for long-term value generation.

What does this mean for businesses? The direction is clear:

1. Operational Efficiency: Companies must re-examine their cost base to drive efficiency and free up funds for new growth opportunities.
2. Streamlined Business Models: Reducing working capital needs and associated financing costs.
3. Optimised Balance Sheets: Proactively managing capital structures to navigate short-term liquidity challenges while building long-term resilience.
4. Agile Capital Allocation: Frequent reviews of capital allocation to ensure agility and adaptability in a fast-changing world.

This shift demands that companies transform into leaner, more agile versions of their former selves.

• Automation and AI are being implemented to reduce costs and improve processes.
• Restructuring -often at the expense of people—has become a survival tactic, not a strategy for growth.

LinkedIn is filled daily with posts from talented, experienced professionals saying, “I’ve been laid off.”

What’s striking is the companies making these redundancies. These are businesses many of us once aspired to work for, the stable giants of the past. And now, in marketing and digital especially, the number of skilled professionals searching for roles in a market with few opportunities is heart-breaking.

So, what’s the root cause?

It’s not just the economy.

It’s not just technology.

It’s a systemic shift in how businesses operate and value their people.

• Too many companies have been reactive rather than proactive.
• Too many have prioritised short-term gains over long-term strategy.
• And too many have failed to recognise the value of their greatest asset: their people.

In this turbulent landscape, the future belongs to the companies that can adapt - not just with their business models but their humanity.

It’s about creating structures that enable dynamic, robust decision-making while valuing the individuals who make those decisions possible. Because the truth is, without talented professionals, even the most agile business won’t thrive.