Accenture Australia has confirmed that the company is planning to retrench senior executives in a global re-organisation of its workforce that it claims will see the company's overall headcount increase by 8,000.
A leaked internal memo sent to Accenture employees globally, outlining the company's strategy for the 2003 financial year, has revealed that the company will remove 1 to 2 percent of its executive-level consultants to unclog its promotional pipeline.
A spokesperson for Accenture Australia confirmed that the memo was penned by Accenture's global chief executive officer, Joe Forehand, but refused to comment on it.
According to the memo, most of the executive redundancies will occur in Australia, the United States and the United Kingdom. The redundancies are expected to be decided over the coming weeks.
Attrition rates at the senior executive level, Foreman said, are at the lowest level seen by the company in recent history creating "imbalances" in the company's ratio of senior executives to other positions in career hierarchy.
However, Accenture will be re-sculpturing its corporate pyramid at both ends by topping up resources in its solutions and services departments. The company is aiming for a net increase in its global headcount of 8,000 people by the June 2003.
