Accenture to lay off 5% global workforce; 10,000 in India at risk of losing jobs

India has the largest Accenture employee base of over two lakh employees and following the decision to fire 5% staff, at least 10,000 people stand the risk of losing their jobs.

Tech giant Accenture is expected to lay off at least 5% of its global workforce due to the Covid-19 crisis, the firm told The Australian Financial Review (AFR).

Accenture has nearly five lakh employees across the world.(Hemant Mishra/Mint File Photo)

According to the AFR report on Tuesday, in an internal global staff meeting CEO Julie Sweet said despite cutting subcontractors and halting fresh recruitment, the company still needed to reduce numbers as the pandemic had taken hold.

“In a normal year, we transition out about 5 per cent and we hire to replace them, because we are in a demand scenario,” Ms Sweet was quoted as saying in the meeting.

“Right now, we’re not in a demand scenario, so if we manage out the same percentage of people and don’t replace them, it allows us to continue to invest and preserve some people who have lower chargeability for when the market comes back,” she reportedly said at the meeting in mid-August.

India has the largest Accenture employee base of over two lakh employees and following the decision to fire 5% staff, at least 10,000 people stand the risk of losing their jobs.

“Every year, as part of our performance process, we have conversations with our people about how they are performing, areas for improvement, their potential to progress, and whether they are a long term fit for Accenture.

This year, across all parts of our business and all career levels, we will identify approximately 5% of our people as our lowest performers, and these individuals will transition out of Accenture. This is consistent with our actions each year,” Accenture office in India told hindustantimes.com.

“We continue managing our business for the long term and critical to this is ensuring we have the right people with the right skills to best serve our clients. In India, we continue to hire, and as part of our ongoing compensation programs, we also recently recognized a number of our people with bonuses and promotions,” they said in a statement.

As many as 25,000 people are likely to be fired across the world as the US-listed firm has a staff count of over five lakh.

CEO Sweet said “chargeability”, or the amount of working hours its staff could attribute to paying clients, had dropped below 90% for the first time in a decade, and performance metrics were being used to target staff to “transition out” of the company.