Accenture Reviews in Philadelphia, PA Area

Pros

- 5(!) weeks PTO (Paid Time Off)
- Employee at Accenture has a year budget for corporate training/conferences
- Since the nature of the job is consulting, get to travel to different places - meeting new people
- Leadership is promoted among all employees (junior / senior). If employee has a strong skill set, he/she will be given an opportunity to lead resources
- Very young company (talking about people) average Accenturer would be somewhere from 22 to 32
- Accenture does a good job on hiring interesting/bright people, compare to many other company who only hunt for the skill

Cons

- Very poor job on experienced hires. There is a ladder in Accenture's Consulting Workforce:

       title (experience):
------------------------------------------------
  1. Analyst (0 to 2 years)
  2. Consulting (3 to 5 years)
  3. Manager (5 to 8 years)
  4. Senior Manager (8 to 10 years)
  5. Senior Executive ( 5 levels - 8 + years )

the problem with experienced hires is that Accenture does not know how to correlate existing (non Accenture) experience into the laddering structure (above). Coming in to Accenture with 5 years of experience, the one can get 12 months of Accenture's experience instead, and be identified as Experienced Analyst (with 12 months experience). Which is kind of bad, considering the fact that fresh out of college graduate after 1 year in Accenture is at the same level.

- Other downside of Accenture is the technical growth. Although lots of resources are available, and there is a 1000 of ultra technical people (out of 180,000), Accenture is not very diverse when it comes to grow in different techy directions (Unix, Mac technologies, for example).

  All Accenture tools and software is Microsoft Windows based, and MS Windows only - this is no IBM, in that sense.

- Although the promotion strategy is based on a bell shaped curve, where everybody ( same level ) is placed on the bell shape curve in two stages - first on current project, and then in Accenture big pool. It does not work fair for everybody.

- No overtimes for Managers and above

- For everybody else (below Managers), if worked over 96 hours for two weeks, each additional hour is at employee's current rate. So 100 hours would equal 80 hours + 4 hours at normal (not 1.5) rate.

Advice to Senior Management

- Focus a lot more on Open Source technologies
- Improve Salaries (which are currently below market average)
- I Like Accenture - make me Love it!

Pros

The dynamic nature of the work where we can be placed at different client sites make work more interesting. Having the satisfaction of creating value for Accenture clients also brings great satisfaction in our jobs. Accenture provides helpful tools for developing your career using their performance management system and tools for developing your professional skills through online and classroom training.

Cons

Feeling disconnected from Accenture when placed at client sites for extended periods. The uncertainty of being able to find work on another project after rolling off of a project.

Advice to Senior Management

None at the moment.

Pros

My coworkers are generally very smart, and very similar to me. I enjoy spending time with them professionally and socially. This makes the day-to-day lifestyle of consulting much more enjoyable. We get plenty of time off, excellent benefits, and I've been satisfied with my raises each year.

Cons

If you can't play the political game, you will have more difficulty getting promoted. Also, if you don't speak up, you can end up working crazy hours and not taking time off. Most of management is supportive of taking time off, but is unlikely to tell you to do so.

Advice to Senior Management

Share as much information as possible about the promotion and raise process.

Pros

Accenture has a very good working environment. The people are very professional, friendly and easy to get along with. They are the type of crowd you want to hang out with after office to grab a beer. The company promotes a culture of recognition not just from management but amongst its peers as well. Also, since Accenture is a global company, there is a lot of opportunities to take on new role and travel to different countries. Lastly, the company provides a good communication line to its employees. Even though we are 150,000 globally, we still feel part of one big family.

Cons

Work in Accenture is very demanding. Since it provides the best working environment and training to its employees, it only expects the best quality of work. The company promotes a culture of extending your skills to their fullest potential. Although this may sound positive, it actually means that you have to work very hard (including overtime and weekend work) in order to meet the deliverables to the client. Another downside is the constant travels. This could also mean time away from home, family, friends and love ones. But these downsides are often neglected because of the rewards, recognition and people that makes working in Accenture worthwhile.

Advice to Senior Management

Senior Management should constantly improve the rewards and benefits of its employees. They should also make sure to standardize benefits (not only with regards to compensation but also with trainings) across different offices. There is a big difference between what a US and Manila Employee receives. Lastly, they should also promote the permanent transfer of employees to different offices.