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Accenture has started monitoring its employees’ use of AI tools to determine how it decides top-level promotions, as the consultancy pushes reluctant employees to adopt the technology.
The Dublin-headquartered firm told associate directors and senior managers that promotion to leadership positions would require “regular adoption” of AI, according to people familiar with the matter and an internal email seen by the FT.
This month, Accenture began collecting data on individual weekly log-ins to its AI tools for some senior employees.
“The use of our key tools will be a visible input to talent discussions during leadership-level promotion decisions this summer,” the email said. The New York-listed group says it has more than 550,000 people trained in generative AI.
Tools include AI Refinery, which Accenture says helps companies “transform raw AI technology into useful business solutions”, as well as SynOps, an “innovative human-machine operating ‘engine’ that optimizes the synergy of data, applied intelligence, digital technologies and talent to help organizations transform business operations”.
Outlines the challenges consulting groups face when convincing senior employees and partners to adapt to AI.
Persuading senior managers and partners to adopt AI tools has proven more difficult than junior staff, three executives at Big Four accounting and consulting firms have told the FT. One described it as the practice of “chewing.”
Older, more senior individuals are often less comfortable with technology and more committed to established working methods, prompting leadership teams to adopt a “carrot and stick” approach, executives said.
A person familiar with the change at Accenture, who was not directly affected, said they would “quit immediately” if the change impacted them. Both he and another individual criticized the usefulness of the equipment that Accenture required its employees to use, and claimed that some of the equipment was “broken slop generators”.
Employees in 12 European countries are exempt from the policy, as well as employees working in divisions of Accenture that handle U.S. federal government contracts as well as some joint ventures. The company has approximately 800,000 employees globally.
Accenture is rushing to complete a sweeping restructuring announced last June, which united its strategy, consulting, creative, technology and operations units into a single division called “Reinvention Services.”
Chief Executive Julie Sweet said last year that Accenture would “fire” employees who could not adapt to the AI age. The company has since dubbed its employees “reinventors” in an effort to emphasize their ability to advise clients on AI.
Last month, Accenture bought London-based AI startup Faculty to improve its ability to help clients “reinforce core and critical business processes” through AI adoption.
However, Accenture has struggled to adapt to the sector-wide downturn for consultants. Its share price has fallen 42 percent over the past 12 months, wiping off about $137 billion from its market value. It reached a peak of more than $260 billion as demand surged during the pandemic.
Accenture said: “Our strategy is to be the reinvestment partner of choice for our clients and the most customer-centric, AI-enabled, best place to work.
“There is a need to adopt the latest tools and technologies to serve our customers most effectively.”
