Technology services giant Accenture will continue to hire but meanwhile is cutting staff to streamline operations in the face of economic headwinds. Credit: ThinkStock IT services and consultancy firm Accenture said it would lay off 19,000 staffers, or 2.5% of its workforce, over the next 18 months to reduce costs amid uncertain macroeconomic conditions. “While we continue to hire, especially to support our strategic growth priorities, during the second quarter of fiscal 2023, we initiated actions to streamline our operations and transform our non-billable corporate functions to reduce costs,” the company said in an Securities & Exchange Commission (SEC) filing on Thursday. “Over the next 18 months, these actions are expected to result in the departure of approximately 19,000 people (or 2.5% of our current workforce), and we expect over half of these departures will consist of people in our non-billable corporate functions,” the company added. The job cuts reflect stabilizing demand, following explosive post-pandemic growth, and prudent cost management, according to Ignacio Rasero, vice president for Moody’s Investors Service. In addition, the company has revised its fiscal year 2023 revenue growth. “Accenture expects revenues for the third quarter of fiscal 2023 to be in the range of $16.1 billion to $16.7 billion, an increase of 3% to 7% in local currency, reflecting the company’s assumption of an approximately negative 3.5% foreign-exchange impact compared with the third quarter of fiscal 2022,” the company said in a statement. Despite the reduced forecast, Accenture’s diversified business and industry mix can help offset weakness in specific sectors, such as technology, and provide stability, Rasero said, adding that long-term demand prospects for Accenture’s services remain high as the company continues to benefit from digital transformation trends. Accenture’s decision to cut jobs comes just after Amazon decided to fire another 9,000 more workers from several business units, including AWS, at the beginning of the week. Earlier this month, Meta announced that it would fire 10,000 employees, over and above the 11,000 job cuts that it announced four months ago. Uncertain macroeconomic conditions have forced technology companies to announce massive layoffs since 2022 through 2023. Related content brandpost Sponsored by Cisco Reduce your network complexity with AI Jumpstart your AI-enabled network transformation now to achieve multiple benefits. By Matt Landry May 01, 2024 5 mins Networking brandpost Sponsored by SAP Internet startup launches while embracing adoption Internet provider Brightspeed had to replicate information from its SAP solutions to AI-ready, data analytics platform Google BigQuery. SAP’s adoption strategy helped empower the company to become an intelligent enterprise. By Keith Elliot Greenberg, SAP Contributor May 01, 2024 4 mins Digital Transformation feature Expectations vs. reality: A real-world check on generative AI Now with the benefit of hindsight, organizations are more aware of moving cautiously to ensure gen AI delivers rather than disappoints. By Mary Branscombe May 01, 2024 11 mins Microsoft Generative AI Development Tools case study Ingesan embraces a new way to approach HRM with AI Nuria Fuentes, CIO and head of systems and digital transformation at Spanish facilities management company Ingesan, details how the company implements AI in its HR procedures through its Empath-IA project. By Irene Iglesias Alvarez May 01, 2024 5 mins CIO Generative AI Human Resources PODCASTS VIDEOS RESOURCES EVENTS SUBSCRIBE TO OUR NEWSLETTER From our editors straight to your inbox Get started by entering your email address below. Please enter a valid email address Subscribe