Bengaluru: Accenture, which has primarily operated in India's metros, is setting up offices in Jaipur and Coimbatore, as part of a move to access more talent and give employees greater flexibility with respect to where they want to work from.
Accenture had sent a note to employees late last year about creating a new model that provides employees more choice on their work location.
In a statement to TOI,
Accenture said, “We believe that when it comes to the future of work, there is no “one size fits all,” and our approach to how, when and where we work will vary by business, team, and the type of work our people do. For example, at our Advanced Technology Centres in India, people have the option to choose their own work location from any of the cities where Accenture has a presence."
Accenture’s website currently lists opportunities in Jaipur for finance operations, on collecting operational data. "In Jaipur, we are hiring for a variety of in-demand technology skills, in addition to domain and functional experts. A physical office space will be announced soon,” the company said in response to TOI’s query.
Accenture said, “Our people have also told us that while they value the flexibility provided by virtual working, some-in-person connection time is vital to them, and we are setting up offices in select cities to provide them with work options that fulfil both needs. The new locations will also help strengthen and grow our already rich and diverse talent base.”
Accenture did not confirm Coimbatore, but some of the listings on job portals are for BPO roles and application developers in that city. India has about 2.5 lakh of Accenture's 624,000 employees. Experts say Accenture’s push towards new locations is also accelerated by the large number of resignations that IT companies are seeing.
Phil Fersht, CEO of HfS Research, said the Great Resignation is a three-to-four-year phenomenon and a watershed moment in the history of IT services. “This is driving the rapid location diversification of service providers, including Accenture. Wage inflation and employee attrition in Delhi, Mumbai and Bengaluru has never been so problematic and is having a worrying knock-on impact on clients and competitive pricing," he said.
Accenture, he said, has made investments in tier-2 cities across Central/Eastern European locations over the last 20 years, but these are at a much lower scale than tier-2 Indian cities. “India is the one global location that offers talent at scale and the pandemic has strengthened its position,” he said.
Mrinal Rai, principal analyst in research & advisory firm ISG, said allowing the workforce to work from the location of their choice is an attempt not only to provide employee flexibility but also to ensure retention. Rai said providers often look for low-cost locations to deliver services, while also ensuring no dip in service quality.
"The industry is looking at more automation initiatives, cost associated with retaining and training staff, remote working, and ensuring good employee experience. And allowing users to work from the location of their choice is a big factor in enhancing experience,” he said.
