IT major Accenture Plc, on Thursday, announced that it will lay off 2.5 per cent of its global workforce, even as it lowered its annual revenue growth and profit forecasts. This would mean that nearly 19,000 employees of the company will lose job.
"Over the next 18 months, these actions are expected to result in the departure of approximately 19,000 people (or 2.5 per cent of our current workforce), and we expect over half of these departures will consist of people in our non-billable corporate functions," Accenture said in a regulatory filing.
The company expects annual revenue growth to be between 8 per cent and 10 per cent, compared with its previous projection of a 8 per cent to 11 per cent increase.
"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 per cent to 7 per cent in local currency, reflecting the company’s assumption of an approximately negative 3.5 per cent foreign-exchange impact compared with the third quarter of fiscal 2022," the company said.
The company also said it will continue to hire to support its strategic growth priorities, during the second quarter of fiscal 2023, it has initiated steps to stremline opeerations and transform its non-billable corporate functions to reduce costs.
The announcement of job cuts led to the company's stock price going up by four per cent.