IDA pledges to help laid off Accenture workers: ‘Their skills can be quickly adapted’

IDA Ireland plans to help the workers being laid off from Accenture to find new employment, the State agency pledged on Tuesday. Accenture confirmed on Monday it would lay off 890 of its 6,500 Irish-based staff, bringing to almost 1,300 the number of jobs that it will cut here this year.

IDA Ireland, which attracts overseas investment to the Republic, said on Tuesday that it would step in to aid workers who lose their jobs to find new posts. A spokesman explained that the agency would weigh the skills of Accenture workers against demands from other employers. “They have skills that can be very quickly adapted to other areas, everything from financial services to life sciences.”

In a statement the agency said it was working closely with Accenture to ensure affected workers received appropriate information about further opportunities that matched their skills and experience. IDA Ireland will begin working on this as Accenture starts the legally required 30-day consultation with staff on the proposed lay-offs.

The business has offices in Dublin and Cork. IDA Ireland stressed that Accenture remained committed to both regions and was confident about its prospects. The agency pointed out that the Republic remained an attractive place for overseas investors “not least because of our talented workforce”.

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Accenture’s cuts bring to just under 2,300 the known redundancies in the Irish tech sector over the past eight months.

Meanwhile the Communications Workers’ Union (CWU) has called on Accenture to engage with staff and their representatives in redundancy negotiations. The union which represents workers in the postal, telecommunications, tech and call centre sectors did not disclose the number of its members employed at Accenture and affected by the cuts, but said that the bulk who were affected work in content moderation.

Deputy general secretary Ian McArdle, criticised the “ruthless decision” to cut more staff months after a previous round of lay-offs. “Members of the CWU have said this announcement has left workers distraught and facing a completely uncertain future,” said Mr McArdle.

In March staff laid off who had worked more than two years at Accenture were reportedly offered four weeks of base salary per year served, capped at 20 years, plus statutory redundancy pay. It was reported that staff with less than two years’ tenure were offered a lump sum of €4,000, but were told they would have to forfeit the contributions that the company had made to their pension fund.

All laid-off staff employed at the company under work visas were also reportedly offered €1,000 in aid to support their situations.

The company is one of the country’s biggest private sector employers. The latest job losses mean that the Irish-headquartered multinational will have shed about a fifth of its workforce this year.

Mr McArdle said that the union did not have any members affected by the previous cuts in March, but would be hoping to have a seat at the table to negotiate a redundancy package for members affected by this week’s announcement. “The CWU calls on the company to engage with the staff and their representatives at the earliest juncture, to minimise staff reductions, and where redundancies do arise that staff are treated in a fair and transparent manner.”

Mr McArdle said that particularly in content moderation the nature of the work conducted by staff coupled with a “culture of secrecy and the use of aggressive non-disclosure clauses” often leaves workers feeling isolated and vulnerable.

He added that in the last year staff have organised themselves in the CWU to address these workplace issues.