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BONUS CASE: ACCENTURE It’s 5 a.m., time to rustle out of bed to catch your flight from Toronto to Edmonton. You’ll be in the “City of Champions” for the next four days, helping a major client at an oil refinery implement a new information technology system. Then you’ll fly back to Toronto on Thursday, working from home on Friday. You’ll need to do it all again next week, and the week after that, and the week after that. That’s the schedule for Margaret Bretzke, a consultant at Accenture Canada. 1 Accenture is a global management consulting company that collaborates with clients in nearly every major industry and government agency to help them become high-performance organizations. Margaret is one of 4,500 employees who work out of Accenture’s regional offices from coast to coast, and part of a global family that includes more than 211,000 people in 120 countries. 2 Although Margaret is currently based in Canada, she works virtually with team members all over the world. This sort of arrangement is typical, with the firm’s employees needing to be able to work from anywhere, depending upon the needs of their clients. On average, consulting firms lose 15 to 20 percent of their workforce every year. The career path for consultants is often summarized as “up or out,” with employees either being promoted after putting in some time or voluntarily turning over to pursue a job with less travel and more stable hours. The most recent estimates put Accenture’s own attrition rate at 15 percent, down from 18 percent two years prior. The challenge for firms like Accenture is keeping employees committed to an organization that they rarely see. After all, consultants like Margaret are scattered around the world, rarely coming face to face with their manager, and often lacking a true headquarters. Accenture has pursued several strategies to create a sense of loyalty and attachment among its consultants. It organizes quarterly “community events” in which groups of employees come together for charity drives, cultural fare, or sports activities. These events are designed to give the consultants some sense of connection, despite the far-flung nature of their work. The company also instituted a sabbatical program, in which consultants can arrange to have a portion of their paycheques set aside for a three-month vacation after three years of service. Accenture also invests a great deal in their employees, with consultants spending an average of 75 hours a year in training sessions. For example, consultants can take a training course on leading teams whose members are geographically separated. In addition to all this, the company is committed to attracting and developing women. The hope is that these sorts of investments will instill a sense of value in further years of service, keeping consultants for a longer time period. As a global company, Accenture understands the value of a diverse workforce, united by a common culture and commitment to help its clients achieve high performance. In particular, Accenture is committed to attracting, retaining, and advancing women. Currently, more than 70,000 women work at Accenture, roughly a third of the company’s global workforce. According to William D. Green, Chairman and CEO of Accenture, “having an inclusive workforce is part of

what makes Accenture a special place, and the commitment to advancing the careers of women at Accenture is one of our top priorities.” Several corporate initiatives have been implemented to support women in their career development and progression, such as flexible work arrangements (encouraging a balance between work and personal priorities), an active women’s mentoring program (female executives are paired with senior executive mentors), and the Accenture Women’s Network (a global internal website that connects women across the company; an online forum where women can share experiences, advice, and insight). The company also provides courses directed toward developing woman leaders. In the Developing High-Performing Women course, for example, female role models help managers evaluate requirements to reach the next stage in their careers. To date, more than 550 women from 23 countries have participated in the program. At the local level, the company helps women build strong networks, both within Accenture and with the broader community. There are local women’s networking groups in Austria/Switzerland/Germany, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, India, Italy, Ireland, Japan, Latin America, Norway, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Finally, for eight consecutive years, Working Mothers magazine has included Accenture in the “100 Best Companies for Working Mothers.” In short, this should be an easy place for women, like Margaret Bretzke, to work and be successful. You might think that Accenture’s primary concern is losing its people to other top consulting firms. In fact, the company actually loses most of its consultants to its very own clients. A consultant at another firm explains the appeal of client firms this way: “The coolest thing about being a consultant is that I know exactly where I would go work if I left, because I already have assessed the workplace of the company.” As Accenture consultants work with more and more clients, they develop a broader network of contacts that become potential employers. Those moves typically bring more stability and the sense of moving into a “smaller pond.” Margaret feels she is at a crossroads. Although she enjoys interacting with clients and her Accenture colleagues all over the world, at 32 she is not sure if this frenzied work pace is sustainable in the longer term. Sources. Marquez, J. “Accentuating the Positive.” Workforce, September 22, 2008, pp. 18–-25. Levering, R.; and M. Moskowitz. “And the Winners Are…” Fortune, February 2, 2009, pp. 67–-78. Berfield, S. “Mentoring Can Be Messy.” BusinessWeek, January 29, 2007, pp. 80–-81.

Questions: 1. What could Accenture do to reduce the number of consultants who leave to work for client firms? Would those strategies have any unintended drawbacks? 2. What form(s) of organizational commitment do you think Accenture is trying to instill in its employees, and why? What forms(s) of commitment do you think are actually being experienced, and why? Ideally, what advice would you give the company?...