Deloitte deploys AI to avoid mass layoffs
NEW YORK, UNITED STATES — Consulting firm Deloitte LLP has introduced artificial intelligence (AI) technology to evaluate current employees’ skills and facilitate moves into more in-demand roles within the company.
The goal is to avoid wide fluctuations in hiring and layoffs, in contrast with some companies like Klarna, Twilio, and Stack Overflow embracing AI to either freeze hiring or cut jobs.
Deloitte, which provides audit, consulting, financial advisory, risk management, and tax services, hired 130,000 new staff in 2023 on top of robust hiring growth over the past decade. The firm’s total headcount is now nearing 460,000.
However, amid slowing demand, thousands were recently laid off in restructurings.
“It is obviously a great objective to be able to avoid large swings of hirings and layoffs,” said Stevan Rolls, global chief talent officer at Deloitte.
Deloitte already uses AI to eliminate repetitive tasks and expects this approach could moderate future hiring increases even as revenue grows.
“Let’s imagine Deloitte was so successful and we doubled our size again, I’d be really worried about hiring a quarter of a million people a year,” Rolls said.
“It might not be fewer, but it might be the same as we hire now.”
Deloitte is one of the “Big Four” professional services leaders, along with PwC, EY, and KPMG. Its global revenue rose 15% to $64.9 billion and it ranked 6th on World’s Best Workplaces 2023.
