Accenture has warned senior staff that promotion eligibility will now be linked to usage of the company’s AI tools.
The multinational tech consultancy informed associate directors and senior managers that promotion to leadership positions would require “regular adoption” of AI. It said that it would begin recording weekly logins to its AI tools by some senior staff members, reports the Financial Times.
Generally, older and more senior staff at firms like Accenture have been more reluctant to adopt AI, preferring their established working methods over new, unfamiliar technology. Lack of familiarity isn’t the only issue, though. Multiple employees criticised the usefulness of tools Accenture wants staff to use, dismissing some as “broken slop generators.” One told the FT that they would “quit immediately” if the change impacted them.
Accenture employees in 12 European countries are exempt from the new metric, as are those in the US federal government contracts division.
[See more: A sixth of US workers pretend to use AI to keep their bosses happy]
Accenture warned last September that staff unable to reskill on AI would be laid off as the company embarks on a broader restructuring strategy to prioritise AI efforts.
CEO Julie Sweet said on a call that the company expects employees to “retrain and retool” at scale, noting that the company had already reskilled 550,000 workers on the fundamentals of generative AI, up from just 30 in 2022. The company employs 780,000 people globally.
“Our No. 1 strategy is upskilling, given the skills we need, and we’ve had a lot of experience in upskilling,” Sweet added.
Accenture announced a number of partnerships in December aimed at accelerating the upskilling process. It partnered with OpenAI to equip tens of thousands of workers with ChatGPT Enterprise, as well as with rival Anthropic to train 30,000 employees on Claude AI tools. A partnership with Palantir will see over 2,000 Accenture staff trained on the analytics giant’s platforms.
The moves are seen as key to Accenture’s future. “Our strategy is to be the reinvention partner of choice for our clients and to be the most client-focused, AI-enabled, great place to work. That requires the adoption of the latest tools and technologies to serve our clients most effectively,” a company spokesperson said.
