Accenture to cut global workforce by 5%; IT firm's operations in India likely to be affected

Thousands of employees at Accenture could be impacted as the global IT and professional services company is looking to reduce at least 5 percent of its global workforce. Accenture has a global workforce of around 5.13 lakh people and out of them, about 2 lakh are in India. The workforce reduction might have an impact on India operations. In an emailed statement to PTI on Wednesday, Accenture said it was not planning “extraordinary global workforce actions” at this time. The statement was in response to a query about plans to layoff people, including in India. “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 five percent of our people as our lowest performers, and these individuals will transition out of Accenture. This is consistent with our actions each year,” Accenture said in the statement. In India, Accenture said it continues “to hire, and as part of our ongoing compensation programs, we also recently recognised a number of our people with bonuses and promotions”. The company will continue managing its business for the long term and critical to this is ensuring it has the right people with the right skills to best serve its clients, the statement said. According to a report in the Australian Financial Review (AFR), Accenture CEO Julie Sweet, in an internal staff meeting, said that in a normal year, the company transition out about 5 percent and hire to replace them because of a demand scenario. “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… This year, in addition to the normal 5 percent, we’ve identified more people who need improvement…,” she was quoted as saying in the report. In the wake of the coronavirus pandemic that has significantly disrupted economic activities and businesses worldwide, including in India, many companies are resorting to job cuts as part of efforts to reduce costs.