Accenture is a highly prestigious firm, whose reputation proceeds it. In the consulting world, for example, it may come as a surprise that working for Accenture is often seen as more impressive than working at one of the ‘Big 4’. But what are the real pros and cons of working at Accenture?
Benefits of working at Accenture include it being a market-leading firm in the technology space. It is prestigious, with an excellent global reputation. On the other hand, Working at Accenture often involves high levels of stress and an excessive workload.
In this post, I’ll take a look at:
- The most important 7 advantages of working at Accenture
- The 7 biggest disadvantages of working there
1. Technology Leadership
In the professional services world, Accenture is right at the top of the tree when it comes to the technological sphere.
They work with many of the biggest technology companies in the world, including:
- Adobe
- Alibaba
- Amazon
- Blue Yonder
- Cisco
- Dell
- HPE
- IBM
- RedHat
- Microsfot
- Oracle
- Pegasystems
- Salesforce
- SAP
- ServiceNow
- VMWare
- Workday
(Source)
Accenture has expertise in a wide range of technological areas, including some of the following:
- Cloud computing
- Cybersecurity
- Artifical intelligence
- Digital transformation
The depth and breadth of Accenture’s knowledge-base, and employee base skillset, means that they can offer a really comprehensive package to all technology companies.
2. Prestige
By their own account, Accenture serves more than 9,000 clients worldwide.
This includes up to three quarters of the Fortune Global 500, a truly astonishing number! (Source)
Accenture works with companies across all industry sectors, including:
- Hospitality
- Pharmaceuticals
- Finance
- Technology
- Motor Industry
- Food and Drink
Accenture has over 700,000 employees in 120 different countries. (Source) This means their operations are diverse, and also provides lots of potential for employees to move up the corporate ladder in a variety of ways.
3. 6th Best Company To Work For
According to Fortune Magazine, creators of the Fortune 500, Accenture are the 6th best employer to work for in the world.
That’s a very high compliment!
Fortune Magazine states that ‘Accenture vaulted into the top 10 Best Companies to Work For…thanks in part to its forward-thinking approach to supporting its 60,000 U.S. employees and hiring the next generation of talent. Through the company’s apprentice program, Accenture hires workers who might not otherwise have opportunities in the tech field by partnering with community colleges, nonprofits, and tech academies.‘ (Source)
Accenture is proud of its recruitment methods, and they’re clearly working for them.
4. Learning And Development
Though there is some debate about this, there seems a lot of evidence that Accenture provides a good level of training and development opportunities for all its staff.
Many people working at Accenture, only intend to do so for a proportion of their careers. They want to learn what they can about business, consulting, and other professional services.
They may then take those skills in a different direction later in their careers by:
- Becoming entrepreneurs
- Joining more boutique firms
- Continuing to make their way up the Accenture job ladder
Accenture provides training and on-job learning for all possible exit strategies.
5. Innovation
Accenture is right at the cutting edge coal-face where innovation is concerned.
How do they do this?
Well, Accenture encourages innovation in the following ways:
- It encourages innovation and creativity amount its employees
- Accenture invests in research and development
- They use emerging technologies
- They encourage open innovation. For example, they collaborate with start-ups and universities
- They use agile methodologies. This is a bit complex, but basically means they can bring ideas and products to market faster, or provide quick solutions for those they work with
6. Building The World’s Most Diverse Company
This is a bold claim, but this is one of Accenture’s visions! To build the ‘world’s most diverse company!’ (Source) They want to build a ‘diverse and inclusive workforce, which creates a positive work environment where everyone can thrive and bring their best ideas to the table.’
How do they do this in reality?
Probably their main ways are:
- Inclusive hiring (from a range of sources)
- Diversity training for all staff
- Analysis of diversity in all areas of their operations
- Partnerships with like-minded diverse institutions
7. Competitive Compensation And Benefits
The word on the street is that most employees that start at Accenture will begin on a higher salary than those that start working at one of the ‘Big 4’.
The compensation and benefits also increase significantly as you move up the corporate ladder.
Here is a rough indication of the level of compensation for different job titles:
| Position | Salary |
| Junior Consultant | $60,000-$88,000 |
| Starter Consultant | $78,000 |
| Senior Consultant | $111,000 |
| Partner | $360,000 |
Salaries in this sector are highly negotiable, and also are effected by location and other factors.
All employees will normally be provided with:
- Healthcare insurance
- Retirement plans
- Wellness programs
1. Excessive Travel
It’s probably no surprise that travel is high on the list of complaints for those that have worked there.
In fairness, travel is a double-edged sword. For many, the high level of travel will be the biggest perk of the job.
Employees travel for:
- On-site projects with clients
- Meeting with shareholders and business leaders of the clients they service
- Training and networking
This is business travel! Think living out of a suitcase, business meetings, and no time for sightseeing or anything like that.
For some people, this sounds like the dream ticket, and they love the sound of working on planes and trains and in hotels.
But for others, just be aware that travel is a big part of the job for most employees.
2. High Workload
Professional services firms are highly competitive to get jobs at, so when you’re in you are in a continual dog-eat-dog struggle.
The stakes are high! Projects are important and have a potentially big impact on clients. So your workload is high.
Many employees at Accenture report that they may sometimes:
- Have to work at weekends
- Work long hours
- Sometimes work on holidays
3. Annual Staff Turnover of 26.1%
Staff turnover at Accenture is relatively high. At 26.1%, this is slightly higher than the average for this kind of work sector.
However, in some other industry sectors, a staff turnover like this would be extraordinarily high.
It is really a testament to:
- The stress of the job
- The workload
- The number of positive exit opportunities available to employees
(Source)
4. Limited Creativity
There is some debate around this, but I’ve heard from some employees that they feel like they have limited opportunities to express their creativity.
Also, work can be repetitive, especially if you have success in a particular area. You can find yourself doing similar projects one after the other.
For many, this would be an advantage, because you’ll know what you’re doing! But if you like variety, just be aware that this is the case.
5. Work-Life Balance
Although Accenture does present that it promotes work-life balance in its PR statements, let’s get real for a moment!
Work is highly stressful and regularly involves long hours.
Many employees find that this has a negative impact on:
- Family
- Hobbies
- Friends
- Leisure time
Work is emotionally and intellectually absorbing, and so employees will often find they have depleted energy reserves outside of work.
6. Workload
You probably get the picture now!
The workload is high, and clients are often demanding!
Learning to deal with stress is often the most important skill you’ll learn on the job.
7. Job Security
The professional services sector is fast-paced and ever-changing, so it’s not very high on a list of professions giving job security.
However, on the flip side, you’ll learn so many skills working at Accenture, as well as have so many networking opportunities, that finding work should you be let go will probably not be hard.
