Accenture Promotion Cycle: What to Expect During Performance Reviews

Earlier, Accenture promotion cycle was conducted in December. But, now it has shifted to June to align with budgeting process and client planning. This new schedule ensures that the company gains better visibility in terms of client strategies and meeting their demands. The promotions are based on how employees are performing in the organisation. To monitor employee performance, employers conduct a transparent and real-time performance review system. It is essential for employees to keep up good performance, if they want to be in the promotion cycle. In this article, you will learn what to expect during performance reviews. 

How Accenture Conducts Performance Reviews?

There were 733,000 employees in Accenture by mid 2023. Ranking and evaluating all employees by comparing them with one another could have been possible in a company, but the given head count makes it difficult to run such an approach. Many companies have also stated that rankings and comparisons create a negative impact on the employee’s mind and instead of giving their best performance, they end up giving their worst. This is the reason why Accenture shifted to a new performance review approach which is forward-looking, based on real-time and frequent. 

The shift from closed-door reviews to a more fluid on-going feedback mechanism creates a more productive environment. Instead of comparing, now Accenture offers employees timely feedbacks, based on their skills and performance in critical projects. 

Benefits of Feedback Mechanism as adopted by Accenture

The feedback mechanism is a new type of performance review system that Accenture has adopted. Following are the benefits of this new performance review system:

Timely Feedbacks

There are many companies that are now following the feedback mechanism. However, they often do that annually, which becomes difficult for the employees to catch up on. With Accenture, the process is a little different. They provide bite-sized feedbacks to employees which are relevant to the immediate projects they are working on. 

Stakeholders can decide upon the frequency of the feedbacks

It is usually the managers who conduct this new feedback meetings with employees. Based on the work pressure and the clients employees are working with, Accenture managers let the employees decide the frequency of these meetings. While some employees may require less feedback, others may require more. After the employers have reviewed their performance, they ensure that the employees are taking the feedbacks seriously and working on the areas. 

Ensures Productivity

The new performance review approach of Accenture enable employees to strive for growth and productivity. Employees can develop a forward-thinking mindset with the feedback approach as it focuses on individual growth and not competing against other employees, which is a case in the traditional ranking approach. 

Helps Personalise Goals

Every employee is unique. So, employers need to realise that the generalised key perfomance indicators will not work on all employees. Accenture thus customises performance goals to individual roles and aspirations. This tailored approach ensures that employees get specific and relevant feedbacks. Employers also understand the importance of company’s growth. Hence, the feedbacks that are given to the employees should also align with the goals and priorities of the company. Because of this reason, employees and their supervisors are continuously discussing about their priorties and company expectations. 

Prevent Misunderstandings

With time-to-time feedbacks, employees and managers can contribute to a transparent environment. It also ensures that the stakeholders and direct reports are on the same page, thereby avoiding any misunderstandings during the time of evaluations. 

Why Accenture Adopted the Feedback Approach? 

Accenture, like many other companies conducted the ratings and annual reviews. But now, with the world achieving digital advancement, Accenture has switched to the feedback process. But why did they do it? The reasons are as follows:

• Conduting an annual performance review was a time-consuming process. However, frequent feedbacks given by managers save time for both the stakeholders (employees and their supervisors). 

• Millennials and Gen Z believe in living at the moment. Hence, with timely feedbacks, they can understand how they performed on recent projects and accordingly they can strategise their skills for upcoming work. 

• The modern performance management system at Accenture can be accessed by all everyone, thus offering a centralised solution to give and take reviews. 

Conclusion 

Based on your performance reviews, Accenture will offer you a promotion. Ensure to give your best performance and work according to the frequent feedbacks that your supervisors will provide and you may get a decent increment along with a better position.