13th July, 2009
Linda Gregory shows how employee consultation helped to avoid compulsory redundancies at Accenture, and supported good relations with departing staff.
Accenture is a global management consulting, technology services and outsourcing company with more than 175 000 employees in 120 countries around the world, including nearly 10 000 in the UK. We work with clients in nearly every major industry, including 96 of the Fortune Global 100, more than three-quarters of the Fortune Global 500 and many major government agencies.
Due to recent demand/supply imbalances, in the autumn of last year Accenture had to take steps to reduce the number of employees in our Consulting and Solutions workforces in the UK. As the numbers affected meant the programme would amount to a ‘collective redundancy’ under employment legislation, we established an Employee Consultative Forum (ECF) specifically for this purpose. It was a new initiative for the company and we had no way of knowing how effective it would be.
A series of meetings were held to consult over the business case and how redundancies should be made. This part of the business was not familiar with voluntary redundancy (VR), but after much discussion the Employee Representatives persuaded management that not only was it achievable, but it would have a very positive impact compared with making compulsory redundancies (CR). The Company was impressed by their arguments, and therefore prepared to give it a try.
In consultation with the Employee Representatives, we opened a two week window for VR applications, which were made via a SharePoint, with a ‘comments box’ for the individual to explain why they wanted to leave if they wanted to explain their reasons. Management retained absolute right of veto over who should be allowed to leave and when, because there was a need to keep control over the numbers, roles and skills that would be retained by the business.
For VR to work, we knew that there had to be an appropriate compensation package, and the employee representatives played a crucial role in helping us put together an attractive formula that offered guaranteed minimum payments according to the career level (grade) of the employee regardless of their length of service.
Thanks to the advice of the employee representatives, and the willingness of senior management in Accenture to listen to new ideas, redundancy has been seen as less of a threat and more of an opportunity. The ‘comments box’ on the VR application form was incredibly useful in identifying the human story that lay behind each application, and people felt they had more control over their future, along with greater dignity in the redundancy process. Best of all, Accenture people left the company on a positive note and may one day return.
There were many advantages for the company too. As job losses were achieved with far fewer compulsory redundancies, the process was administratively cheaper and quicker. From observation, we are confident that employee engagement has been better than it would otherwise have been amongst those who remained with the company. And the legacy going forward is that within Accenture there is much greater respect for the ability of the employee consultative process to add genuine value at a potentially difficult time.
Linda Gregory is Industrial Relations Manager at Accenture and a member of the IPA executive committee.
