Performance Management Practice adopted by Accenture Services Pvt Ltd

Company Description:

Accenture is a global management consulting, technology services and outsourcing company. Combining unparalleled experience, comprehensive capabilities across all industries and business functions, and extensive research on the world’s most successful companies, Accenture collaborates with clients to help them become high-performance businesses and governments. With approximately 211,000 people serving clients in more than 120 countries, the company generated net revenues of US$21.6 billion for the fiscal year ended Aug. 31, 2010.

Accenture’s “high performance business” strategy builds on their expertise in consulting, technology and outsourcing to help clients perform at the highest levels so that they can create sustainable value for their customers and shareholders. Accenture has extensive relationships with the world’s leading companies and governments and work with organizations of all sizes-including 94 of the Fortune Global 100 and more than three quarters of the Fortune Global 500.

Among the many strengths that distinguish Accenture in the marketplace are their:

Extensive industry expertise.

Broad and evolving service offerings.

Expertise in business transformation outsourcing.

History of technology innovation and implementation, including their research and development capabilities, on which they spend approximately $300 million annually.

Commitment to the long-term development of their employees.

Proven and experienced management team.

HR Policy at Accenture:

Accenture has got a comprehensive HR policy in each of the following segments

Absences, Leaves, Work Arrangements.

Benefits, Rewards, Compensation.

Career/Performance Management & Training.

Personal Responsibilities & Behavior.

Recruiting & Hiring.

Resignations, Terminations, Retirement.

Time/Expense Reporting & Travel.

Work Assignments, Relocation, Transfers & Immigration.

Accenture offers a working environment which is diverse, stimulating, supportive and professional. They give a lot of emphasis on striking a balance between the work and personal lives of employees by offering flexible work, flexible work arrangements, working away from home locations and video conferencing. They also give a lot of emphasis on maintaining a diverse workforce and attracting, retaining and promoting women employees.

Performance Factors:

Accenture uses various performance factors to measure whether an individual has the skills and behaviors required to effectively respond to the typical demands of the job. These factors help in providing each employee with targeted feedback. The various career levels in Accenture is as shown below

Career Levels in Accenture:

Programmer / Junior Software Engineer

Senior Programmer / Software Engineer

Analyst Programmer / Senior Software Engineer

Systems Analyst / Team Lead

Senior Systems Analyst / Senior Team Lead

Manager / Program Manager

Senior Manager

Accenture uses the following parameters as performance factors to measure the performance of each employee in the organization.

Performance Factors

Organizes and Directs Quality Work Efforts

Drives for Value Added Results

Anticipates and Handles Critical Situations

Builds Technical Capabilities

Demonstrates Professionalism and Confidence

Maximizes Team’s Performance

Communicates and Influences Effectively

Although the basic framework remains the same, each employee’s performance is analyzed and rated according to the level in the organization.

Performance Appraisal System

Annual Calendar at Accenture:

• CDP: Comprehensive development plan 
• ARD: Annual Resource-Development

The Accenture performance period starts from June to May of every year. All employees of the organization, no matter what designation they hold, need to set the objectives & targets at the beginning of every performance period. Employees set the objectives & targets according to their role and project using an online tool called “My Performance Tool”. The objectives are divided into 3 Leadership Contribution Areas.

Business Operator: This relates to the employee’s performance in project-related activities. It measures how much the employee has contributed in his project and how critically he/she has performed that role.

Value Creator: This indicates how much value the employee has created for the organization, in addition to working in his project-capacity. This shows whether the employee has gone out of his role to play a crucial factor in his team, how much technical contribution he has done to the various technical communities, etc.

People Developer: This indicates how much the employee has contributed towards his own all round development, as well as the subordinates working under him/her.

The objectives are reviewed by the Supervisor and finally fixed by both employee and his/her supervisor. The employee is rated on the basis of whether he meets these targets at end of the year.

Every employee need to fill in midyear self input in the month of December wherein they have to specify how far they have been successful in fulfilling their objectives and meeting their targets. This is a kind of self assessment and it is done twice a year. After the employee submits the self input in the My Performance tool, a copy of that is sent to his supervisor. He gives a midyear feedback to the employee on the basis of his performance in the first half of the year. In the midyear feedback supervisor gives his reviews and also tell about the employee’s strengths and areas of development. The employee need to work on the areas of improvement mentioned in the feedback.

Mid-year Review: The Mid-year review gives an important chance to the employee and the supervisor to review the progress at the middle of the year, to ensure that everything is on track and the modifications needed to ensure effective performance on the part of the employee. It ensures that the employee & the supervisor have the same idea about the employee’s performance and remove any misunderstandings

The final self input has to be filled by the employee in the month of March /April and the supervisor gives the annual feedback after evaluating the performance of the employee against his objectives & targets. The supervisor uses the 7 performance factors for evaluating the performance of the employee. Each parameter in the performance factor is given a 4 point Rating Scale:

Exceeded expectation

Met expectation

Partially met expectation

Did not meet expectation

If the employee is satisfied with the feedback then he can accept it by clicking on the accept button in the tool. If he is not satisfied with the feedback then he can request for a one on one meeting with his supervisor to raise his concerns.

After the feedback for all employees are given, each employee would be given a relative rating based on his/her performance in the performance period and whether targets have been met and objectives fulfilled. The ratings and promotions if any are communicated to the employee in the month of August. The appraisal of each employee depends on the rating he gets. The appraisal happens in the beginning of the Accenture financial year i.e. September.

Based on feedback from last year, each and every employee has to create a focused plan for performance enhancement, performance improvement and career development. The employee has to consult his/her career counselor and the supervisor (optional), before deciding on the future career-development plan.

Career-Counselor: The Career-Counselor Framework is very unique to Accenture. Usually, a person who is at least two career-levels above the employee and working in the same technology or business-domain is appointed as the Career-counselor to the employee and remains so throughout the employee’s duration at Accenture. The Career-Counselor acts as the employee’s voice during meetings with the supervisor or during moderation meetings and tries to ensure that the employee is not discriminated against. He also plays a critical role in guiding the employee regarding how to achieve his/her career goals and advises him based on experience. It is in the employee’s own need to maintain a regular and close contact with the career-counselor in order to make full utilization of this system.

Hence in short we can say that the performance management system at Accenture is a four step process.

Set objectives: Top down approach with senior management deciding the organizational objectives, then at various levels below. Finally individuals set objectives according to role and project. Objectives are set according to SMART (Small, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic and Timely) principle. The Objectives are reviewed by Supervisor and finally fixed by both employee and supervisor.

Assess Outcomes: Structured feedback on the results achieved and how they were achieved. First self-assessment, then supervisor and senior assessment. This is done twice a year.

Compare and rate: Final relative ratings based on outcomes according to the objectives.

Plan development: Based on feedback from last year, each and every employee has to create a focused plan for performance enhancement, performance improvement and career development. The employee has to consult his/her career counselor and the supervisor (optional), before deciding on the future career-development plan.