Accenture tells senior employees to use AI tools to qualify for promotions: Report

Accenture has told senior employees that they must regularly use the firm’s internal artificial intelligence tools to be considered for promotions into leadership roles, the Financial Times reported.

Associate directors and senior managers were informed that “regular adoption” of AI tools would now be required to progress to more senior positions, signalling a sharper push to embed generative AI into daily consulting work.

An Accenture spokesperson confirmed the policy to CNBC, saying the company’s ambition is to become “the reinvention partner of choice” for clients and “the most client-focused, AI-enabled, great place to work”.

“That requires the adoption of the latest tools and technologies to serve our clients most effectively,” the spokesperson added.

The Financial Times said the new expectations were communicated through an internal email, which stated that use of key AI tools would be a visible input into talent and promotion discussions.

The report also noted that the policy does not apply to staff in 12 European countries, nor to employees working in Accenture’s division handling US government contracts.

The move comes as consulting and technology firms increasingly tie career progression to AI capability, amid intensifying pressure to reskill workforces and remain competitive in the fast-moving AI services market.

In September, Accenture outlined a restructuring strategy that warned employees unable to reskill in AI could eventually be laid off. On an earnings call, chief executive Julie Sweet said all staff would be expected to “retrain and retool” at scale.

Sweet said 550,000 employees had already been reskilled in the fundamentals of generative AI, out of Accenture’s global workforce of roughly 780,000.

“Our No. 1 strategy is upskilling,” she said, adding that where reskilling was not viable, the firm would need to exit roles and bring in new capabilities.

Accenture has also expanded partnerships with leading AI developers as it builds out its enterprise AI offering. In December, it partnered with OpenAI to provide tens of thousands of employees access to ChatGPT Enterprise. The company has also worked with Anthropic to train 30,000 staff on Claude tools, and partnered with Palantir to extend AI training across its workforce.

The promotion-linked AI mandate underscores how rapidly generative AI is reshaping not only client delivery models, but also internal performance metrics across the professional services sector.

As firms race to commercialise AI at scale, Accenture’s approach suggests that AI adoption is moving from an optional skill to a core requirement for leadership in the consulting industry.