Accenture is set to promote around 50,000 employees across the world by June this year which includes 15,000 employees in India, a Bloomberg report said. The decision comes with the aim of lifting the morale of the employees after a six-month delay due to weakened demand for consulting services, the report said.
As per the internal memos accessed by Bloomberg, these promotions will include around 15,000 employees in India, 11,000 in the Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) region, and 10,000 across the Americas. The decision was announced to the staff on Tuesday.
This decision comes at a time when the New York-listed company is facing a drop in client spending and more checks on US government contracts under President Donald Trump. Accenture also dropped its diversity goals after Trump’s administration asked companies to stop following such practices.
With approximately 801,000 employees globally, the June promotions represent around 6% of the company’s total workforce. The company had originally planned to carry out most promotions in December but delayed them to June.
Like other consulting giants such as McKinsey and Ernst & Young, Accenture rapidly hired during the pandemic to meet rising demand. However, as business growth slowed, the company cut about 19,000 jobs in 2023. In April, Bloomberg reported that Deloitte was also planning layoffs within its government consulting division.
In the memos, Accenture said, “Our operating margin — how we measure profitability as a percentage of revenue — contracted compared to adjusted operating margin for the second quarter last year.” It also pointed to “an elevated level of uncertainty in the global economic and geopolitical environment.”
Some employees in key growth areas will receive base pay increases, the memos said, while decisions on bonuses and performance-linked equity will be made in December, Bloomberg reported.