Accenture cuts 19,000 jobs worldwide

() — Accenture plans to cut 19,000 jobs worldwide in an attempt to cut costs amid a gloomy economic outlook.

The Irish-American professional services company announced Thursday that it will spend $1.2 billion in severance payments to cut 2.5% of its workforce over the next 18 months, and another $300 million to consolidate its office space.

According to the company, more than half of the eliminated positions will correspond to administrative personnel.

Accenture, which has 738,000 employees worldwide, said in its latest quarterly report to the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) that it continues to hire, but had “initiated actions to streamline (its) operations and transform our functions non-billable corporate accounts to reduce costs”.

The $167 billion company lowered its fiscal 2023 revenue growth outlook to 8% to 10%, from its previous estimate of 8% to 11%.

Accenture shares rose 3.9% to hit $263 a share in early trading after its announcement. The shares, which are listed in New York, are down more than 5% in the past 12 months.

Accenture’s rivals are also trying to cut costs. According to a report from Financial Timesconsulting giant KPMG announced last month in an internal memo that it would cut nearly 2% of its US workforce in anticipation of declining client demand.

McKinsey could also cut up to 2,000 non-consulting employees in one of its biggest rounds of layoffs, according to reported Bloomberg last month, citing unnamed sources close to the matter.

Consulting is not the only one suffering. thousands of workers of the technology industry have been laid off in recent months by rising interest rates, inflation and fears of a recession, which have led to a decline in advertising and consumer spending.

Last week, Facebook’s parent company Meta said it planned to lay off another 10,000 workers, its second round of significant cuts in four months. Taken together, the cuts will reduce Meta’s headcount by around 25%.