Pros

Accenture is a great big company, but still manages to feel small in some places (see cons as well). Community is a big focus area, and they do a reasonably good job of making you feel like you belong. Work arrangements are flexible, which many people very much appreciate, particularly those with children.

Cons

Accenture is a great big company, it can sometimes be challenging to get things accomplished, and nearly impossible to make any changes to process. This is perhaps to be expected, but can be very frustrating if you have ideas - this is a company best suited to people who like to be told how to do their jobs, and who will just do it as instructed without getting ideas about better ways to accomplish the same thing. The worst downside, though, is that - as a public company - there is always focus on the quarterly results - so long-term benefits are not examined at all. The business is run quarterly, anything outside that view is completely irrelevant.

Advice to Senior Management

You have a people company - you are in the business of people, essentially - sometimes in the focus on financial results, you lose focus on the people and we end up feeling overworked and underappreciated.

Pros

For those who want a good chance to work with cool technology, and a pretty young set of consultants, this is the palce to be.

Cons

Since my area is position based, there has been relatively no career advancement chances.

Advice to Senior Management

Cut the red tape. There is so much of it.

Pros

Really nice management group
Nice leadership from managers
Good reputation for start out

Cons

Didn't have any career improvement when you are in the bottom.
Slow promotions
Dont have good training program for employee

Advice to Senior Management

Should change the self-study training to more skill-specific training

Pros

Nice perks. Interesting work if you can get on nice projects. QCenter is A-OK. Extensive knowledge network; you don't have to reinvent the wheel.

Cons

Politics! Up or out model is a sham, and it's gutting the company of fine people. The performance review process is rigged and subjective. It's who you know, not what you do. It does not take into consideration good results.

Advice to Senior Management

The up or out model is depriving the firm of very good people, that want to deliver results to clients. Not all consultants are interested in being managers, some are interested in building their skills and delivering results. HR is useless. The 'network-buddy' system has to go.

Pros

Great benefits - 5 weeks of PTO per year and good medical. A lot of opportunities for the person just out of college, single, and willing to travel extensively

Cons

Not a big presence in KC area, so limited work for local people. Lack of trust for management; They promote career advancement, training, and mentoring; but don't follow through.

Advice to Senior Management

Communicate better, come up with a training plan and facilitate career development

Pros

Mostly good people
Fairly good compensation
Good place to start a career

Cons

Culture of workaholicism
Promotions & raises are not based on actual performance but rather project performance and "who you know"

Advice to Senior Management

Create a mechanism for upward feedback

Pros

Diverse and challenging roles; excellent pay; top of the class training; good career progression paths; opportunities for industry recognition; And last but not the least great people to work with.

Cons

Depending on the project and the management - long working hours; communication mis-alignment with delivery centres can really make life miserable;

Advice to Senior Management

You guys are doing a great job, keep it up. From the time I have been in the company - for the past 2 years it has been a steady growth inspite of the recession - this is a great achievement in itself.

Pros

Great if you are hired directly out of college and you don't have a family yet
Great if you don't mind long hours and low pay
Great if you don't have deep skills and are more into playing politics

Cons

Low Pay, Long hours
Terrible if you are an experienced hire
Weak promotion policy
Horrible HR
Great for the few who are in the inner circles at the local level

Advice to Senior Management

Eliminate the people who are only there for the ride and don't offer hard skills.
Change HR
Stop treating employees like they're mindless numbnuts

Pros

Looks great on the CV, so many future job opportunities have arisen just from having the word 'Accenture' on there.
Great social events, free drinks, trips abroad, etc (this was before the economic downturn though)
'Some' great people to work with

Cons

The promotion process is extremely flawed. If you don't have a couple of Partners as your mates then you can forget about it.

A very false, presenteeism, try-hard attitude, people like to cancel their holidays due to work committments and then make sure the whole office knows about it.

Despite what they might say there is very little opportunity in the roles you take. If you're on the bench and there is a role to be filled, there's a good chance you'll be doing it, whether it is part of your skillset or not.

I don't want to sound overly negative, my time there was good, but you'd have to triple my current salary for me to go back.

Advice to Senior Management

Be more sensible about the promotion and feedback process, actually use your brains instead of following a form.
Re-start the nice company ski-trips free drinks events.

Pros

While it did not work out for me, Accenture is a very fair employer. The best part is being surrounded by intelligent competent people.

Cons

Feedback on performance is not very clear. They tend to skirt around issues and don't get to the heart of the matter in a realistic way.

Advice to Senior Management

Senior Execs need to communicate issues more clearly to people that work for them. Having said this, they are all very intelligent people.