Accenture requires senior employees to use AI tools, otherwise they will not be promoted

Key Points

• Accenture is fully betting on artificial intelligence, directly linking promotion and regular use of AI tools by senior staff.
• According to the Financial Times, associate directors and senior managers have been told that in order to be promoted to management positions, they must regularly use AI.
• A company spokesperson told CNBC that its AI strategy "requires employees to adopt the latest tools and technologies to serve clients most efficiently."

Accenture has informed its senior staff: they must regularly use the company's AI tools to be eligible for promotion to management positions.

According to the Financial Times, the consulting giant's associate directors and senior managers have received notice that to be promoted to leadership positions, they must regularly use AI.

An Accenture spokesperson confirmed the report to CNBC, and added:

"Our strategy is to become the business transformation partner of choice for clients, creating the most client-centric, AI-powered, high-quality workplace." "This requires us to adopt the latest tools and technologies to serve our clients in the most efficient way."

The spokesperson also confirmed that, as reported by the Financial Times, this policy has been clearly stated in internal emails.

According to the content of the email: "The use of our core tools will be a visible basis for talent assessment and promotion discussions."

The Financial Times also reported that employees in 12 European countries and those in the U.S. government contracts division are not affected by this policy.

Background: Employees unable to transition to AI will be eliminated

As early as last September, Accenture announced a restructuring plan, stating that employees unable to complete the AI skills transition will eventually be laid off.

On an earnings call, CEO Julie Sweet said that the company requires all employees to undergo large-scale "retraining and retooling," and noted that 550,000 employees have completed foundational training in generative AI skills. Accenture has a total of 780,000 employees worldwide.

"Our first strategy is skills enhancement. We are experienced in training, but now it must be completed in a very short period of time. For employees for whom there is truly no viable training path, we will choose to let them go in order to bring in the talent we need," Sweet said.

At the time, Sweet told CNBC: "Our early investment in AI is really paying off."

In recent months, Accenture has announced a series of AI-related partnerships and tools:

• In December, collaborated with OpenAI, allowing tens of thousands of employees to use ChatGPT Enterprise, and continuously improving AI skills.
• Partnered with Anthropic to train 30,000 employees on the Claude tool; tens of thousands of developers will use Claude Code for programming and AI-assisted work.
• Collaborated with Palantir, enabling more than 2,000 Accenture employees to receive AI training through its platform.

Editor: Guo Mingyu