Consulting giant Deloitte has been on a major hiring spree, adding 130,000 new employees in 2022 alone. However, the company has also had to notify thousands of potential layoffs recently due to lowered demand. To balance staffing needs more effectively, Deloitte is now using artificial intelligence (AI) to assess current employees’ skills and redeploy them into higher demand roles.
The goal is to avoid wide swings between large-scale hiring and layoffs. By optimizing the existing workforce based on skill sets, Deloitte aims to achieve a more agile balance between supply and demand. As Stevan Rolls, Deloitte’s Chief Talent Officer, stated: “It is a great objective to be able to avoid large swings of hirings and layoffs.”
Deloitte has already begun leveraging AI, specifically generative models like ChatGPT, to take over repetitive junior staff tasks like preparing documents and gathering data. The new initiative expands the use of AI to talent management. By matching employee capabilities to areas of need, the company hopes to moderate future hiring numbers without resorting to mass job cuts.
This AI workforce strategy aligns with Deloitte’s rapid expansion in recent years. As Rolls noted, “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.” Targeted redeployment allows them to remain responsive to market fluctuations despite astonishing growth.
In summary:
- Deloitte grew staff numbers by 130,000 in 2022 but also cut thousands of jobs
- The company is now using AI to assess current staff skills and reassign them
- The goal is to optimize the workforce to balance supply and demand shifts
- This will moderate hiring needs and avoid large hiring/layoff swings in future
- It builds on Deloitte’s use of AI for automating repetitive junior staff work
The approach underscores Deloitte’s commitment to building an agile, resilient workforce even amid rapid expansion across the consulting industry.