Taoiseach Leo Varadkar has described the loss of almost 900 Irish jobs at Accenture as “devastating” and said the Government would work with staff to help them find employment.
A junior minister has called on the consultancy firm to offer voluntary redundancy as part of its plan to cut 890 jobs from its Dublin headquarters.
The multinational company announced the major workforce reduction on Monday as part of ongoing streamlining of its global operations.
The firm had already cut 400 jobs from its 6,000-plus team in Ireland earlier this year.
Speaking to Newstalk, Varadkar said: “Even at a time of full employment, 900 job losses is a lot and will have an impact, not just on the people affected but, of course, on their families and the wider community.”
He said it was important for Accenture, which he characterised as a successful company generally doing quite well, to put in place a “decent redundancy package” for staff losing their jobs.
Mr Varadkar said Government would help staff find alternative employment, training and social welfare entitlements.
He said the tech sector, which is linked to Accenture’s consultancy, had a period of rapid expansion but is now undergoing headcount retrenchment by about 5-15 per cent.
However, he said there would still be more people working at Accenture than compared to five years ago.
Minister of state Sean Fleming urged Accenture to maximise the potential for voluntary redundancies to achieve the latest headcount reduction.
He said Monday’s announcement was one of the biggest single redundancy moves in Ireland in many years.
Mr Fleming said the official notification to the Government from Accenture came as a “big shock”.
“It’s a big blow, especially to the people concerned and their families, and our thoughts are with them because many of them are wondering
"'Am I one of the 890 people that’s going to get the bad news over the next day or so out of the 6,000 people that work there?’,” he told RTÉ Radio One.
“Everybody in the business will be on tenterhooks until there is some clarity, and that’s why it’s most important that the company arrange the collective employee process straightaway so that there can be good information back to people.
“And they would raise the possibility that there might have been in the normal course of events, because of a lot of movement in the management consultancy sector, if people were contemplating moving to other positions or they were contemplating leaving the company, that people who want to volunteer to leave should be first, rather than everybody in that particular section being forced out, even if there is movement within the overall group.”
Mr Fleming expressed confidence that those who lose their jobs will find re-employment quickly.
“The IDA (Ireland’s investment and development agency) has created 6,000 new jobs already this year,” he said.
“We are at full employment in Ireland, with less than 4% unemployment, we’ve never experienced that in our lifetime.
“So, definitely the economy is strong, and the most important thing that the Government can do now, and the IDA will already be working on it, is the skills profile (of the departing workforce) because there will be other IDA clients in Ireland looking to employ people in the weeks and months ahead.
“The IDA have a particularly big role here to match the skills of those who are being made redundant with the requirements of other companies out there who are currently looking for new staff.”
Government must support Accenture workers following shock announcement of 890 job losses - @loreillysf
“This is yet another concerning blow for tech workers in Ireland, and a worrying sign of continuing volatility in the sector.”https://t.co/oqX6YGfQl8 pic.twitter.com/IUocU4JRSl— Sinn Féin (@sinnfeinireland) July 31, 2023
Sinn Féin’s Louise O’Reilly said the job losses represented a 20 per cent cut to the company’s Irish workforce, including the 400 from March, which compares to a 7 per cent cut globally.
She said that Government representatives needed to ask the company why this is the case.
“We need to be asking why we are outliers, why we are being disproportionately impacted by this.
“I think there is a lot that can be done for these workers in the first instance.
“There needs to be direct engagement with the financial services union because that’s their representative group, in order to determine criteria for selection for redundancy.
“Secondly, I think we need to see a real concerted effort to save every single job that can be saved, and I do think then that Minister (for Enterprise Simon) Coveney has a job of work to do to talk to this company now to find out exactly why we’re being disproportionately impacted, is it because of the services that are here, is it the type of services that are offered.”
She added: “I think it has to do with the profile of the workforce that is here.
“But again, until the company come out and say that, and they may not say that until their directly asked by the Minister, we may not know.
“I also think the minister needs to get out ahead of this, he appears to be very shocked by this announcement.”
Mr Coveney said in a statement that the job losses represented a “significant blow” to workers and their families, and said the highly skilled workers are likely to be sought after by other parts of the economy.
Accenture, which has its headquarters in Dublin, has insisted it remains “firmly committed” to its Irish operations.
“We continue to focus on ensuring we have the right talent to serve our clients and run our business today and tomorrow,” the company said in a statement on Monday.
