850 Qantas Office Jobs Go in an Accenture Deal With Most of the Work Delivered From India

Qantas will move roles overseas and cut 850 positions under an outsourcing deal with tech firm Accenture, and the work that moves will be delivered mostly by its teams in India and some in Australia. The first phase covers parts of its corporate functions, and the first wave of changes are expected to be in place by mid-2027. Staff heard the news in an email on Tuesday, and individual outcomes had not yet been determined. For Metaintro readers in Qantas head-office teams, this guide covers which functions go first, what Australian law requires on consultation and redundancy pay, where the airline is still hiring, and what to do before the first changes land.

What Exactly Did Qantas Announce?

Qantas Group has signed a multi-year strategic partnership with Accenture to modernise its technology, simplify operations and speed up its use of artificial intelligence. Accenture will be tasked with modernising its backend systems, processes and data, and the two firms will redesign and simplify how parts of the group’s corporate functions operate.

Some of the job losses will come through mass redundancies, and the redundancies are part of a new multi-year partnership with Accenture that will affect corporate roles within the organisation.

Accenture will also invest upfront to accelerate the modernisation of the group’s data platforms, although no figure for that investment has been published.

Which Qantas Teams Are Affected First?

The first phase will start with finance, procurement, people and marketing, with some of the services in these areas moving to Accenture, in chief executive Vanessa Hudson's note to staff.

Angus McFarland, NSW Secretary of the Australian Services Union (ASU), believes most of the affected jobs will be at the airline's headquarters in Mascot, Sydney.

For McFarland, the plan “should be chilling to not only those workers, but all Australians”, adding that “this is jobs offshore, and this is skills offshore at our national airline”.

Hudson described the changes as being about “modernising the technology behind our business and becoming more efficient, so we can keep investing in our customers, our people and our future”.

How Much of the Work Is Going to India?

Once the services move, Qantas plans for them to in time be transformed further with automation and AI.

Qantas has not published an exact split between India and Australia. The union is asking for more details on the number and types of jobs affected, the roles that will remain in Australia and the retraining support on offer.

I know this is hard news for some, and I’m sorry for the uncertainty it brings, from Qantas Chief Executive Officer Vanessa Hudson's note to staff, carried in the ANI article on the email.

Why Does Qantas Say It Needs Accenture?

In Hudson's words, Qantas runs on technology built up over decades for a different era, including more than 1,000 legacy applications that were never designed to work together. Qantas calls modernising these systems and connecting the data across them the critical next step to remove complexity and speed up the group's use of AI.

Hudson called the scale and speed of change in this space unprecedented and unlike anything businesses have seen in generations, and described the aim as to redesign how the work behind the airline gets done, with automation and AI built in from the start.

For Hudson, “reinvention was not possible to do on our own”, and she describes Accenture as a long-term partner with tens of thousands of data and AI specialists and experience working with other airlines. The deal builds on annual technology investment of more than AU$1 billion (about US$691 million).

How Did This Deal Develop Since August?

The Qantas and Accenture talks first became public back in August, and the work runs internally under the codename 'Project iQ'.

An August story in the Australian Financial Review put the scale at up to 1,000 roles outsourced to India, and at the time Qantas confirmed talks with Accenture but denied job losses. The figure came from an earlier internal memo, sighted by The Australian Financial Review in August. A Qantas spokesperson's line then was that the airline was “in early discussions with Accenture, but no formal agreement is in place and no decisions have been made”.

What Are the Unions Saying?

We were told at the time that there was no plan for 1,000 jobs to be offshored and yet today staff have been told by Vanessa Hudson that up to 850 jobs could be sent offshore, ASU Assistant National Secretary Scott Cowen said. Cowen added that the union would be working closely with members to fight for every job.

The ASU has called for redundancy packages that recognise workers' years of service, and its priority is keeping as many roles as possible onshore. Cowen also wants regulation, arguing that firms that had received taxpayer-funded subsidies over the years had a social obligation to look after their workforce.

Transport Workers Union national secretary Michael Kaine argued that Qantas continued to find new ways to degrade the spirit of Australia beyond recognition.

Hudson stressed that this decision is not a reflection of their contribution or commitment and that Qantas is focused on providing redeployment into other roles across the Group where possible, including new roles Qantas is creating in Australia.

And once a job is lost and sent offshore, it's going to be very hard to get back, in the words of ASU Assistant National Secretary Scott Cowen, from the ABC News article.

What Must Qantas Do Before Anyone Is Made Redundant?

Every award and agreement has a consultation process for major changes that are likely to have significant effects on employees, and once an employer decides on major change it must, as soon as possible, notify affected employees and any representatives about the proposed changes, give them all relevant information in writing, including the expected effects, discuss the changes, their likely effects and strategies to reduce the negative effects, and consider any ideas or suggestions raised by the employees or their representatives. Qantas will consult with affected employees and their unions before individual outcomes are determined.

A business considering making 15 or more employees redundant must give Services Australia written notification of the proposed dismissals as soon as possible, before anyone is made redundant, setting out the reasons, the number and categories of the employees likely to be affected, and the timing. An employer must also notify or consult with a union if at least 1 employee is a union member.

A dismissal is not a genuine redundancy if the employer still needs the job done by someone, has not followed the consultation requirements in the award or agreement, or could have reasonably given the employee another job within the employer’s business or an associated entity, under Fair Work Ombudsman guidance. Redundancy can happen when a business introduces new technology, for example, the job can be done by a machine, slows down due to lower sales or production, closes, relocates interstate or overseas, or restructures or reorganises, including because a merger or a takeover happens.

How Much Redundancy Pay Could Affected Staff Get?

Under the National Employment Standards (NES), an employer other than a small business must pay at least the scale on the Fair Work redundancy pay page.

• At least 1 year but less than 2 years, 4 weeks
• At least 2 years but less than 3 years, 6 weeks
• At least 3 years but less than 4 years, 7 weeks
• At least 4 years but less than 5 years, 8 weeks
• At least 5 years but less than 6 years, 10 weeks
• At least 6 years but less than 7 years, 11 weeks
• At least 7 years but less than 8 years, 13 weeks
• At least 8 years but less than 9 years, 14 weeks
• At least 9 years but less than 10 years, 16 weeks
• At least 10 years, 12 weeks under the NES

Redundancy pay is paid at the employee's base pay rate for their ordinary hours of work, and it excludes incentive-based payments and bonuses, loadings, monetary allowances, overtime or penalty rates, and any other separately identifiable amounts. Any outstanding entitlements also need to be paid out, including any unused annual leave and long service leave, and notice of termination or pay in lieu still applies.

Usually, employees with less than 12 months service don’t get redundancy pay but may still be entitled to notice, and most small business employers do not have to pay NES redundancy pay.

If staff are covered by an enterprise agreement, the agreement may include entitlements and rules about redundancy, and agreements can be searched on the Fair Work Commission site. An employer can ask the Commission to reduce redundancy pay if it finds other acceptable employment for the employee or can't afford the full redundancy amount, but only where the entitlement comes from the NES, not an award or enterprise agreement. Fair Work's Notice and Redundancy Calculator lets an employee check how much redundancy pay they are entitled to.

Where Is Qantas Still Hiring?

Hudson pointed to more than 4400 new operational roles created since 2023 and thousands more expected as the fleet expands, and the group's Product Innovation Centre in Adelaide is expected to employ more than 400 people.

Open roles sit on the Qantas Group Careers site, which lists teams from Digital, IT and Analytics to Corporate and Support roles in marketing, HR, finance, strategy, and more. Open corporate roles on Qantas's current corporate jobs board include a Manager People, Corporate role in Sydney and a Senior People Consultant role, a 12 month fixed term opportunity at Qantas Head Office in Mascot.

Applicants for corporate roles go through checking criteria and uploading a CV, screening, behavioural interviews, pre-employment checks and an offer. Pre-employment checks include reference checks, a background check, criminal and security clearances.

Help outside Qantas is free, and retrenched workers can register with a Workforce Australia Employment Services Provider for support with résumés and job search, and retrenched workers’ partners who are looking for work are also eligible for support. Providers can be found online or through the National Customer Service Line on 1800 805 260, and the Your Career site from the National Careers Institute offers a quiz to find study, training or job options.

What This Means for Qantas Staff and Job Seekers, and What Should You Do Next?

For people inside the affected teams, the useful fact is time. The timeline runs over the coming months of consultation before individual outcomes are set, so this is a window to plan rather than a notice to leave.

• Know your number. Find your continuous service and check it against the NES redundancy table, then check whether your enterprise agreement pays more.
• Use the consultation. Under the consultation rules, the employer must consider any ideas or suggestions raised by the employees, so put redeployment and retraining requests in writing during the process.
• Watch internal roles early. Qantas plans redeployment through retraining, reskilling and opportunities in other roles within the group, and job alerts on the careers site flag new openings.
• Line up free help. The Workforce Australia service offers free, tailored employment services to people who lose their jobs, and its Job Switch matching tool shows jobs you could pivot to from your existing skills. A search plan that uses AI tools to job search after a layoff can sit alongside that help.

Qantas is not the first Australian company to partner with Accenture on a major AI transformation. Telstra last year unveiled an AU$700 million joint venture with Accenture (about US$483 million), and its plans to cut 209 jobs were revealed earlier this year. Coles is reported to have up to 1,000 jobs moved offshore after partnering with the firm. A first-of-its-kind government paper in July found no evidence to date of broad labour market upheaval in Australia from generative AI, the finding behind Australia Says AI Has Not Triggered Mass Layoffs Yet.

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People Also Asked

Q: How many Qantas jobs are being cut in the Accenture deal?

A: Qantas will cut 850 positions under an outsourcing deal with tech firm Accenture, with the first changes expected by mid-2027.

Q: Are the Qantas jobs moving to India?

A: Most of the outsourced work is. Services moving to Accenture will be delivered mostly by its teams in India and some in Australia, Qantas said.

Q: What redundancy pay do Qantas staff get?

A: The NES minimum ranges from 4 weeks for at least 1 year of service to 16 weeks for at least 9 years but less than 10 years, falling to 12 weeks from 10 years, and an enterprise agreement may pay more.

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