• Accenture reduced headcount by nearly 22,000 in 2025 through a mix of voluntary exits and targeted layoffs, before returning to selective hiring.
• The hiring rebound is focused on AI, data, and technology roles backed by large-scale retraining.
• Accenture’s workforce moves are closely watched across the BPO sector, especially in India and the Philippines.
Accenture, one of the world’s largest IT outsourcing firms, is back in hiring mode after mass layoffs in recent months, as it retrains its workforce for AI.
The company added over 4,000 jobs in the first quarter of its 2026 fiscal year, ending with a total of 783,691 workers, new data from the industry giant showed.
“We’re now hiring, we’re hiring for new skills,” said Angie Park, Accenture chief financial officer, during the company’s quarterly earnings call on Dec. 18.
Park said the firm expects to increase hiring through 2026, especially in the United States and Europe.
“So you should see that come through for the remainder of the year,” she added.
Big picture
Accenture’s moves in the industry are being closely watched amid rapid AI adoption.
The firm is among the biggest employers in the business process outsourcing sector, with India and the Philippines ranking as its top two workforce hubs.
It has around 50,000 employees in various locations in the Philippines.
Mass layoffs
This comes after its workforce was reduced by nearly 22,000 people since early 2025, mainly driven by a sprawling “business optimization” program that was expected to generate over $1 billion in savings.
Accenture executives said the program was completed during the quarter, with total costs over the past six months amounting to $923 million, the bulk of which came from severance-related expenses.
AI-focused hiring
Accenture chair and CEO Julie Sweet said the company is ramping up hiring and retraining to build AI and data skills across its workforce.
“We continue to invest significantly to execute our talent strategy to rotate our workforce,” she said during the earnings call.
“We have nearly reached our goal of 80,000 AI and data professionals, and our people participated in approximately 8 million training hours this quarter, with a significant focus on building advanced AI, technology, and industry skills,” she added.
Accenture has thousands of “reusable” AI agents
The company is seizing opportunities in agentic AI, a leap over the previous generation of AI since these systems can independently manage tasks with less prompting.
“We are also establishing early leadership in agentic AI with the scale of our deployments, working across the ecosystem.
We’ve built an extensive library of over 3,000 reusable agents, reflecting our deep industry and functional expertise. These agents have been used in real client environments, giving us a unique foundation of proven solutions to help clients move faster and with more confidence,” she added.
Accenture’s quarterly performance
• Accenture grew revenues 6 percent to $18.7 billion in the first quarter of its fiscal year 2026.
• New bookings hit $20.9 billion, with $2.2 billion coming from advanced AI work.
• The firm generated $1.5 billion in free cash flow and returned $3.3 billion to shareholders.
Miguel R. Camus has been a reporter covering various domestic business topics since 2009.
