It has been revealed that Accenture will not be awarding salary hikes to its employees in India and Sri Lanka in 2023, except where it is legally mandated or based on individual performance.

The news was shared in an email to its employees from the company’s country managing director, Ajay Vij, who wrote: “Given the context of our performance, we will not be providing any stay-at-level (base pay) increases this year except where legally mandated or committed in a few critical skill areas. We are postponing our promotions to and within MD, and appointments to SMD, until June 2024 in order to allow ourselves to return to growth so that promotions are affordable.”

With over 300,000 employees in India, Accenture has said that it will continue to pay performance bonuses based on individual contributions, wherever applicable.

In a LinkedIn post, Gaurav Chopra, engagement manager at Accenture, said: “This decision was made in response to a challenging macro environment that has impacted our growth and profitability.

“I know this news comes as a disappointment to many of us who have worked hard and delivered exceptional results for our clients and stakeholders, however, I believe that this decision was not taken lightly by the Global Management Committee. It must be a necessary step to ensure the long-term sustainability and competitiveness of our business in a rapidly changing market.”

This follows from Accenture’s mixed Q4 performance where the company reported total revenues for the FY23 at $64.1bn. However, it wasn’t plain sailing as consulting revenues fell by two percent at $8.2bn and communications, media and technology let the company down for the second quarter, running with a revenue of $2.71bn.

Additionally, in March 2023, Accenture announced it would lay off 19,000 employees, making up around 2.5 percent of its global workforce.