Accentures WorkLife Balance Programs

Accenture is a global management consulting, technology services,

and outsourcing company. It has over 186,000 employees
with offices and operations in 200 cities within 2 countries.
Accenture is head!uartered in "ew #or$ %ity.
Time and Flexibility
Internal surveys at Accenture revealed that time is highly
valued among employees&regardless of age&as are daily
and career fle'ibility. (ighty)one percent of the employees
reported that their *ob satisfaction would increase significantly
with additional time and location fle'ibility. (ightythree
percent said the ability to balance wor$ and life
impacts their commitment to stay with Accenture. +i'ty)one
percent indicated that sabbaticals ,career fle'ibility- are one
of the top five most)favored resources. (!ually between
genders, .2 percent have turned down a new position in the
past several years or considered leaving because of wor$/
life balance concerns. +eventy)one percent said wellness is
a priority.
WorkLife Initiative at Accenture
As a result of these findings and other considerations,
Accenture developed two do0en wor$/life initiatives to give
employees more time and fle'ibility. 1hey range from fle'ible
wor$ arrangements to programs such as Back-Up Dependent
Care and Lifeworks. In)home or center)based care is available
for any dependent when regular care arrangements brea$
down. Lifeworks is a free and confidential resource that provides
information on a broad range of topics&from online
health coaching to ergonomics assessments. 1his initiative
also provides access to e'perts in many areas, including legal
and financial.
Future Leave is among the most successful new programs
at Accenture. It provides 2en 3 ,born 146/1481- and 2en
# ,born 1482/2000- employees and baby boomers ali$e the
fle'ibility to address the personal and family issues they face
at their particular stage of life while preserving promising or
well)established careers. 1his initiative ma$es it possible for
employees to ta$e a self)funded sabbatical lasting from one
to three months to teach (nglish in another country, tre$
through Alas$a, or meet family commitments. Any activity
that employees believe will enrich their lives, their families,
or their communities is eligible for approval. (mployees may
ta$e Future Leave after every three years of wor$. It offers
participants the option of planning ahead and putting aside
savings in a special account at Accenture to fund a future
leave. 5n average, 0 employees each !uarter are away from
their *obs on such sabbaticals. 1his number is e'pected to
increase in the future.
Chris Tserng
%hris 1serng, the 6uman 7esources 8emand 9ead for
Accenture:s insurance practice in "orth America, supervises
a staff of four in the %incinnati, 5hio, office. 1his office
supports e'ecutives when they wor$ at client sites across the
country. 1en years into her career at Accenture and eight
months pregnant with her first child, 1serng earned a promotion.
As planned, she too$ eight wee$s of maternity leave and
four wee$s of accrued vacation time.
1serng states; <I didn:t $now how hard it would be to leave
my baby, "icholas. I was feeling guilty and nervous. 1he guilt
was compounded when I learned that the sitter I:d lined up had
a change in plans. I didn:t $now what to do or where to turn for
child care. I began to thin$ that my only option was to consider
leaving the company, the *ob, and the colleagues I loved.=
>uture 9eave was the answer for 1serng, ma$ing it possible
for her to add one additional month to her maternity leave
and paid time)off. 8uring that e'tra time away, she and her
husband located an appropriate day)care facility for "icholas.
1serng adds; <It:s the best thing I ever did for my family. It
was only .0 days, but it gave me the time to ma$e important
decisions about "icholas and about my own future.=
At the end of her leave, 1serng said her colleagues welcomed
her bac$ with open arms. +he adds, <A lot of our e'ecutives,
the men especially, recogni0e that once women become
mothers, they do feel guilty about leaving their child and some
decide not to return to wor$.=
1o learn more about Accenture, go to wwwaccenture
com
?uestions
1. Discuss the key attributes of the diversity competency illustrated in the case with a specific
example of each attribute identified. Recommend other strategies that may be used to help
Accenture achieve its goals.
2. Discuss the key attributes of the self competency illustrated by Chris Tserng.
with a specific example of each attribute identified.
1.
One of the key attributes is time and flexibility where every employee says that
managing time is very important in their life and work and many of them think that they
should spend the most of their time working because wellness primes for them in life.
Because of the importancy of time Accenture developed worklife initiatives to
giveemployees more time and flexibility such as Back-Up Dependent
Care and Lifeworks, the last one is a free and confidential resource that provides
information on a broad range of topics!from online health coaching to ergonomics
assessments.
Another key attribute is "#uture leave$ program where each employee can " take a
self%funded sabbatical lasting from one to three months to teach &nglish in another
country' trek through Alaska' or meet family commitments$.
(t appears that Accenture is very delicate when it comes to it)s employee and that*s a
key thing in a big company. ( think the most important strategy on Accenture achieving
its goals is ensuring the full availability and desire of it)s employees on their work.
+.
,hris -serng was in the place of many females that when they get pregnant face the
indecision in balancing work with maternal issues. .ost of the mothers would choose
their children instead of their work because of the "maternal guilt$ but thanks to "#uture
leave$ program ,hris -serng was able to have another month off her duty to try solving
the day care of her child. /he has been able to fix the day care issue and got back to work
without feeling the "guilt$. All this was possible because of the good attention given by
Accenture to its employees.