I'm hearing that ACN are planning further cuts after this current round of VR/CR.Anyone else heard of anything?

Would be interested to know where you heard this from... any idea of where the cuts might fall? I wouldn't be at all suprised if ACN continued to bleed people as part of their performance management process but another formal round anytime soon is unlikely IMO

Yup, I'm hearing rumours today too. Another round of VR in the next couple of months. Make of that what you will.

Yes, this is correct, approx. 500-600 people in additional to the previous round are estimated to go before July... Word of mouth is that a further announcement will be done in the next couple of weeks. And that packages wont be so generous as previous rounds. I really regret that I havent left in the previous round...

I don't believe these rumours... they haven't even finished with the last round!

Having just seen where certain service lines are vs target for revenue and pipeline, I'd be pretty sure it's seconds away, ROUND 2! Ding, Ding!

2 months ago I did hear that there would be 4 rounds of redundancies in total, 2 done... In saying that, the bench has improved with the last cuts addressing most of it, some bench is always required for future work.Perhaps it's in other parts of the company not SI&T Cons & Solutions - perhaps Services which has avoided the cuts so far - these seems more likely to me

Services! Enterprise! Ding, ding, ding! Maybe SM UK/I knows?

Won't be Enterprise - in fact they must be hiring extra staff at the moment to manage that great invention, the desk booking system.

The desk booking system was a necessary efficiency measure and I'm surprised you are being sarcastic about it.Moving on, I would say that even though the bench figures have improved recently, the pipeline isn't exactly promising. Another round? Quite possible. Lower pay-out. Again, quite possible. Was considered for this round but last minute changes ensured it matched the previous offer.

You're all wrong - Gordon Brown said the economy will be in growth by the end of the year. Therefore, Accenture will not make anyone else redundant or they won't be able to staff this upcoming tidal wave in the pipeline. Gordon said so.

further leadership meetings took place recently and indeed ''round 3' has been ractfied with additional 500-600 to go across ALL parts of the business. Therefore we should be getting new announcements pretty soon. It seems that the VR package will be different (lower) this time given the high interest of good people in leaving the firm. We will see, let's cross fingers...

Another 5-600 jobhunters out there?Where are people going? Staying within consulting? Public/ private sector? Holiday? Dole?

That's what I'm wondering. The firm is a bit of a joke but it is at least marginally better than unemployment....marginally.

Well they can't make the new round of exit offers unattractive or nobody will take them in this round so why bother? As to losing really good people, I wonder if they can just refuse applications from staff who are rated above or SA?

Yes they have rejected VR applications depending on ratings etc or if they are newly promoted they seem to reject VR request.The only benifit of lowering VR offers is it gets the lower rated performers or those with a big bench time. On the other hand, good Vol Redundancy is good from a PR perspective... suggests they don't make compulsory cuts.. My view is reductions will be driven on latest performance round... 10% of people will be below consistant so that gives a healthy number already. I suspect the CR package may reduce to make a slightly lower VR package look appealing in comparison.

Just figured out I'll be getting a CW. Since I've been on the bench for some time now I think it's probably a matter of time before getting the boot. As for the next round, I can't comment but perhaps the fact that there are still very few roles for managers and higher out there seems to indicate that further reductions might indeed follow.

Initially I was thinking a 3rd round sounded like a load of baloney as they've only just completed the 2nd round. But to Smithey's point it would seem reasonable that a series of redendancy rounds is a better way of managing demand as people rolled off onto the bench. If they were to try and cut a large number in one go, then they would need to cut resources already staffed on projects which would be bad for existing projects. However by having a series of redundancies they can better manage the outflow of resources. However I'm sure they're aware they need to balance this with staff morale, as it's not very nice to be constantly looking over your shoulder for that tap to let you know your services are no longer required.

Yes but you aren't told your services are no longer required in a VR round. You are given the opportunity to sod off to pastures new in exchange for some spondoolies. CR follows VR sometimes, but not always. Has anyone heard anything more about a 3rd round of VR, and when exactly it will happen? Word is 'pretty soon'.

Why is everything always so 'cloak and dagger' at this place? We only find out anything on the day it happens, after months of rumour and scare stories.I find it so scary that we advise others on management, but our management seem so utterly inept and show complete disregard for their "resources". We're commodities. That's all.

I suppose ACN doesn't want details leaked before the emails go out. Final details may be being decided at a senior level. Also, we're too afraid to ask senior management directly when we hear rumours. Instead we post here. There's a big old fear factor at ACN.And not many SEs or SMs want to risk posting details here - everyone is being paranoid that big brother is watching.

Anyone heard any more details on this or was it all piffle?????

That was the purpose of starting off the "reply all" e-mail chain on Sunday night - easy way to pick out the dumb ****s that should be booted out.

What 'reply to all' email chain. Bob? Do share!

Just the typical moronic behaviour you would expect: Someone accidentally sent a mail to a near-global DL. Then someone decided to reply all to ask to be removed from the list. Cue 300 programmers in Manical and Bangalore either asking also be removed from the list or replying all and telling people not to reply all.

lol, some choice ones, all the maroons going:THIS IS SO ANNOYING, DON'T REPLY TO ALL*Clicks reply to all*

IBM is using ACN's NEW job cust to boost its employee morale, way to go ACN!. Rumour is 1000 in Uk.

1,000 in FY09 is not enough. 500 before Christmas, 600 in the last week, plus another 500ish through normal churn.ACN now has just above 9,000 in the UK - this was closer to 11,000 during FY08.Globally ACN is down to just under 174,000, this is down by around 10,000 - so much for the 250k 2012 goal...IF there is another cut this FY you can be sure that the VR deadline is going to be prior to the annual performance outcome, i.e. mid to late August.For the individual this might not sound all too nice but needless to say ACN is a very well run company - shame I do not have more shares then I do, compared to the $10m-ish that the UK MD has...

What would be re rationale behind having a VR-application deadline prior to perf ratings being received? I hear there are going to be no pay rises this year for anybody not in the top rating band

News is again in the media - additional 500 people to go in Sep - so I guess that the head cuttting is far away from the end... Bastards...

I havent heard anything. Do you have the news link?

Yeah, I heard the same comment from a close SE this week, it looks like that the nightmare will start again. I think that I had enough with this b. firm, I will probably go now at any cost...

No link to this supposed media news?Don't be Below or CW if you can help it...

Any ideas on which part? ie SI&T, MCIM etc or all of the above?

Company-wide apparently.Got to pay for all that Irish whisky somehow...

I heard last Friday that this Monday the news will be communicated again... 500 to go in principle... VR followed by CR and VR seems to be less generous than previous rounds... I guess that it is now time to go...

will be interesting to see if what you heard is correct... roll on tomorrow.

UK SM - where did u hear this?

nothing in the inbox as yet today...

Wouldn't hold your breath for any news today....we all know big David T only hits the send button on these types of mails after 5.30pm on a Friday!

Nothing as yet, DT must have forgotten to click send... or ACN SM's info is wrong or mis-dated?

I don't think there are any further rounds of VR/CR planned.I do think there may be some attrition through the performance management process, company-wide. And owing to the fact that nobody is getting a payrise this year, let alone a bonus.

Agree with notreally: some further attrition through performance management process, although probably not so much through zero raises. The people unhappy with money and who are confident they can get more elsewhere will surely have gone through the VRs. Besides - minimal pay inflation this year will be economy-wide. However, I think ACN will actually be in a position of not having enough resources towards the end of the calendar year, and will have to madly start recruiting again. That's the trouble with the consulting business model.

What will be the bonus of this year ?

Is usually announced in October.

Guys, btw, someone who took VR will be eligible to the 'Performance Bonus' ?

no, you have to be employed until end of the financial year (aug 31st 23:59:59).

Not sure why people are bothering to ask about bonuses, which world do they live in? few (if any) areas have reached their targets this year. I can't see any more rounds of VR - I reckon the reduction in promotions and minimal pay increases will drive planned attrition. Beyond this, if consulting picks up and opportunities arise, I would expect attrition to increase as people leave to get their pay rises / promotions etc. Then I can see the scenario of being short in resources may occur and graduate intake increases again... Boom and bust?

So anyone heard any more? I am beginning to think that's all the VR/CR done

Well at least now we know not to believe anything SM UK/I says :-)

CR still going on in UK Services. 20% of our unit are getting their names pulled out of the hat by the end of August.

lol, this whole thread is a load of untrue gossip and nonsense.