Accenture

Nothing.

Really nothing.

Seriously, nothing.

A waste of time.

Seriously, a waste of time.

1. Salary and Package Stuff:

Let's take an example: You are working in an organization as a Software Engineer, earning 6 Lac/Annum with 3 Years of experience in IT. You cleared the Accenture interview process (which is generally a cakewalk). HR will extend an offer to you.

HR will make every possible try to fool you. If you ask for a Senior Software Engineer (SSE) designation, HR will say, "As per company policy, the minimum criterion for SSE is 3.5 years, so we cannot give you." If you ask for a raise, let's say a 25% hike, HR will say, "We cannot give that because it will be beyond their standards for a Software Engineer and they cannot go against the policy." But, they might say, "What we can do for you as an exception is that we can give you the same package along with a Joining Bonus, which is 10% of the base (60,000), and 18% of variable pay." Variable pay will be payable twice (after 6 months). Variable pay also depends upon performance, but Accenture is known for giving 100% variable pay to their employees without any deductions.

After this, most people fall prey to HR and join Accenture, but the truth is something different. Read point 2.

1. This is true that you will get a joining bonus in the first month's salary. But the variable pay will be given only at 8% (not 18%) for 1 year. This is based on the default rating as per Accenture. No matter how well you perform, you are not going to get your 100% variable pay.

Example: Let's say you are eligible for 1 Lac Rs in 1 Year as your variable pay. You should be getting this in two parts, 50,000 each (assuming you are a good performer and the company is also performing well). You will be shocked to see not more than 24,000 Rs after 6 Months (you were expecting 50,000 Rs). This is company policy. HR will not tell you this at the time of joining. You will feel cheated and surely disappointed.

1. You can find an SSE earning less than a SE and also some SSE earning more than a TL level person. Nothing at all is standardized.

2. Promotions: Promotions solely depend upon your relation with your manager. Any similarity whatsoever with your good performance is purely coincidental. I have seen extremely good people having experience of 5.5 years at SE level also. Such people are just prey of internal politics. I really feel sad for those chaps.

3. If you were on the bench for some time, say 2 months, forget about variable pay. Continuing the above example, you are not going to get more than 14,000 (in any case).

4. BEWARE: If you are joining Accenture Gurgaon just only for the Gurgaon location, then it is highly likely that you can soon be relocated mercilessly if you remain on the bench for some time. They have all rights to force you. On the day of reporting (1st day in Accenture), they will make you sign a document that states this clause.

5. Notice Period: As you might be aware, the notice period has been increased to 90 days. The same has been done for Infosys also. The good news is, if you are under the probation period, you can get out of this mess in just 30 days. :)

6. Medical Policy for Parents: Only the employee, his wife, and children are insured. If you are a bachelor and your parents are dependent on you, then sorry, Accenture is not responsible for them. You have to purchase a medical policy for your parents.

7. Accenture doesn't believe in equality. Anybody less than Team Lead level is actually less than a human being. Let me give you one example: If you are at Team Lead level or above, only then will you get car parking stickers. Below that level, please use company transport. You are not supposed to come by car. And if you prefer to come by bike, please note Accenture has very limited parking. If tokens are not available, then wait outside under the sun until someone goes out.

Note: 1. I am talking about the Accenture Gurgaon office, DDC2 (Near Signature Tower). 2. Accenture does not have a first-in, first-park policy as it may hurt some project managers and senior management people while waiting outside. 3. They do have sufficient space to accommodate at least thrice the available car parking (125 slots). But, Accenture is not willing to pay for the additional parking cost for their below TL level servants... oh sorry, employees.

Mind you, Accenture is a 21 Billion + $ revenue-generating company.

1. Onsite Opportunities: Depends project to project, but due to huge internal politics, opportunities are limited to the near and dear employees of the project manager.

2. Non-Professional behavior by the Project Managers and TL level people. North India is generally known for being very unprofessional, and after joining Accenture Gurgaon, I got to know the reason behind such a perception.

Example: Project Managers and TL level believe in oral work-related communications (in Hindi language, no English please kind of work environment) rather than written. But if you make any mistakes, they will not leave any chance to escalate the matter in writing. They do not hesitate to use red color while composing such emails. This is surely against business ethics.

1. No work-from-home facility. This facility is only reserved for Project Managers. So, please don't ask for laptops and VPN access. Sorry.

2. Spam Mails: Expect getting approximately 25 spam mails from Accenture itself that have nothing to do with you.

3. Stationary: This company is so poor that it will not issue you a single pencil without an online ticket that you have to raise. They call themselves an environmentally friendly company that is saving papers that employees used to fill to issue stationary material. I prefer using my own stationary rather than raising new tickets. This is exactly what they want.

4. This is a very small thing, but you are going to miss paper towels in washrooms. Again, the answer comes: "We are an environmentally friendly company, so we do not provide paper towels in washrooms." Whenever they want to save money, they say they are environmentally friendly. You decide.

5. Security:

They don't leave any chance to harass their employees.

Security Check-1: The drama starts in the morning when you reach the barrier (just before the building, near the NH-8 highway). Some illiterate, ill-mannered security guards will welcome you and pretend to check your car by looking inside the car and will smash the boot door of your loving car. Gosh!!! What a bad feeling it is... You will feel like killing him, but you cannot do anything, sad.

Security Check-2: Once you cross the barrier, the same brutal treatment is waiting for your car again. Yes, another security check. Your car boot will be opened and smashed again without being looked at inside. They say they are checking for explosives. God knows how they determine without looking inside.

Security Check-3: Let's move on, park your car. On the parking exit towards the lift, you will meet one more security guard who will ask you to show your carry bag/laptop bag, etc. This guy is amazing; he will unzip and zip the bag without even looking into it.

Security Check-4: Once you reach your floor, you will meet one more security guard that will again pretend to check your bags.

I would have been more than happy if they were actually doing a security check. The fact is they are just pretending to do it, wasting your time, and damaging your car. Believe me, nothing more than that.

1. Cafeteria: Everything is paid. Vendors are pathetic. You will feel regretted after spending your hard-earned money on the pathetic food.

You will get lunch @ 45 Rs (full plate). It will be a fixed quantity, no buffet system at all. Please do not dare ask for more; you will get a blunt/rude reply only.

If you are coming from a product-based company, you are going to miss those luxuries and good behavior of office boys.

1. Medical Facility: On papers, every day a doctor is available from 3 PM to 5 PM on weekdays. But, at most, he/she comes only 2 times a week.

2. No AC facility in cabs. Employees have to pay directly to the cab drivers if they wish AC to be turned on. I feel pity for my fellow colleagues who come from Noida and surrounding areas in non-AC cabs in the summers of Northern India, where the temperature touches 45 degrees Celsius.

3. Dress Code: As in many service-based companies, here also you have to follow the dress code. You need to wear formals (except Friday). On Fridays, you cannot wear round-neck T-shirts.

Your supervisor has all rights to fine you Rs 500 if found guilty for violating this "LAW" for the first time. If you are unlucky enough to be caught a second time, then you will be sent home, and it will be considered PTO (Paid Time Off). Awesome!

Also, you are not supposed to wear a shirt/T-shirt bearing any corporate logo other than the Accenture logo. That means, even if you are coming from Microsoft, you cannot wear a T-shirt/shirt having the Microsoft logo or its name.

1. Oops... I forgot to tell you about HR. Accenture HR people are the most useless people in the world. There is ZERO coordination between them. When your interview process is going on, believe me, nobody knows where the process actually is. They will literally call you and ask you what all rounds have been done with you. Anybody will wake up and call you from their department. In my case, after getting the offer letter, one HR called me to schedule the technical interview. Can you believe this? They don't know if the candidate has already gone through the selection process or not. I spoke to 12 different HR people during my selection process. I am sure "each" Accenture employee will agree on this without exception.

2. Long working hours (8:30 AM to 6:30 PM). People using company transport have to follow these timings; others come late generally.

I hope these points are enough to open your eyes. Would that I had known these things before joining Accenture, Gurgaon!!!

No advice for you people. If you can read my above comments, at least you will get to know what problems are there at grass-root level in the Gurgaon office specifically.

I know you will not do anything to make things better and Accenture a better place to work, since all of you are involved internally.

Merely starting GPTW (Great Place To Work) fun activities doesn't make a company great.