Accenture to Lay Off Staff Unwilling or Unable to Reskill for AI Amid Major Restructuring and $1 Billion Optimization Push

Accenture has announced a sweeping restructuring strategy centered on accelerating its AI transformation, including plans to let go of employees who cannot be reskilled in artificial intelligence. The move is part of a broader effort to realign the company’s workforce with the growing demands of AI-driven business services. In a recent call, CEO Julie Sweet emphasized that as advanced AI becomes embedded in every aspect of the company’s operations, employee upskilling is now the top priority. “We are investing in upskilling our reinventors, which is our primary strategy,” Sweet said. She added that the company is operating on a “compression timeline” and will exit staff for whom reskilling is not a viable path forward. Accenture has already reskilled 550,000 employees in the fundamentals of generative AI. The company is rolling out a six-month, $865 million business optimization program that includes costs tied to severance and headcount reductions. According to CFO Angie Park, the initiative is expected to deliver over $1 billion in savings, which will be reinvested into the business and workforce development—enabling modest margin expansion while fueling future growth. Despite the layoffs, Accenture is simultaneously expanding its AI talent pool. The company now employs 77,000 AI and data professionals in 2025, a significant increase from 40,000 in 2023. Sweet confirmed that Accenture plans to grow its headcount in the coming financial year, particularly in key markets such as the U.S. and Europe. “We’re focused on upskilling because of the specific skills we need,” Sweet said. “We’ve had a lot of experience in upskilling, and now we’re doing it at scale, in a compressed timeline. When we don’t have a viable path for skilling, we’re exiting people so we can bring in the capabilities we need.” The company reported revenues of $69.7 billion for the year, marking a 7% increase from the previous year. Sweet attributed this growth to strong client demand for AI deployment across industries, highlighting that organizations are increasingly turning to Accenture to help integrate AI into their core operations.