Deloitte LLP, one of the prominent players in the consulting industry, is grappling with an unusual challenge this year. Despite having recently onboarded 130,000 new employees to meet burgeoning demand, the firm is now in the process of laying off hundreds of existing staff members. In a strategic move, Deloitte is turning to artificial intelligence (AI) to navigate this conundrum. The professional services giant is leveraging AI to assess the skills of its current workforce and devise plans to transition employees from less active business sectors to roles experiencing higher demand. This initiative forms part of Deloitte's broader strategy to harness technology and, in turn, moderate its hiring growth over time.

The dynamics at play emerged following a restructuring within Deloitte prompted by a slowdown in demand, leading the firm to caution thousands of employees in the United States and the United Kingdom about potential job redundancies. Deloitte's Global Chief Talent Officer, Stevan Rolls, emphasized the importance of efficiently finding the right people and avoiding abrupt shifts between mass hirings and layoffs. The aim is to enhance effectiveness in talent management through the integration of AI technologies.

Deloitte, along with other major professional services firms, has already ventured into using generative artificial intelligence to automate repetitive tasks traditionally assigned to junior staff. These tasks include document preparation for internal meetings and data aggregation for client pitches. With their latest projects, the focus is on utilizing generative AI to streamline the management of the considerable influx of employees each year. Deloitte's current headcount is nearing 460,000 after the recent hiring spree, marking a threefold increase compared to a decade ago when revenue was approximately half of its current value.

Stevan Rolls expressed concerns about the scalability of hiring, contemplating the challenges of potentially doubling Deloitte's size again. He underscored the need for strategic workforce management to ensure sustained efficiency, hinting at the pivotal role that AI could play in addressing such concerns.