Accenture: Advancement to highest levels only with AI use
Consultants aiming for the top at Accenture are reportedly to use AI. Logins in the tools are also tracked for some employees.
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According to a report by the Financial Times (FT), the consulting firm Accenture is introducing a new personnel policy that links promotions at the highest level to regular use of AI tools. The Dublin-based company reportedly informed associate directors and senior managers of this in an internal email. The use of the most important tools will be a "visible contribution" in discussions about promotions to executive level this summer, the newspaper quotes from the email.
In February, Accenture also began collecting data on individual senior employees' weekly logins to AI tools. The background is apparently that experienced and long-serving employees are rather hesitant to use AI. The FT quotes industry voices saying that all major consulting firms are currently struggling with a certain reluctance among older staff on this issue. Younger employees apparently need less persuasion to use AI.
However, according to the report, there are also critical voices within Accenture's workforce regarding the usefulness of the AI tools used. Insiders speak of "broken slop machines," the FT writes.
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An AI mandate for promotions does not yet seem to be a global personnel strategy at Accenture. The FT report mentions, among other things, twelve excluded countries in Europe, and joint ventures are also left out. Accenture did not comment on whether Germany is affected when asked by the iX editorial team. The company merely stated: "Our strategy is to be the preferred reinvention partner for our clients, thereby being an absolutely customer-oriented and AI-powered workplace and employer. To achieve this, the introduction of the latest tools and technologies is necessary to serve our clients as effectively as possible."
However, pressure to use AI is likely nothing new at Accenture. In September, CEO Julie Sweet announced the dismissal of employees who do not retrain in AI. 550,000 of the almost 800,000 employees have already been trained as part of a restructuring towards artificial intelligence, Sweet said at the time. Accenture is generally struggling with a difficult consulting market; last year, the company cut 11,000 jobs, according to reports.
(axk)
