Employee union files complaint against Accenture for forcefully asking staff to resign

National Information Technology Employees Senate (NITES, Maharashtra's IT & ITes employee union) has received complaints from several employees of Accenture, Hinjewadi, Pune regarding their layoff where employees are being forced to resign immediately.  

Accordingly, NITES has filed a complaint to the Labor Commissioner of Pune in a letter stating, "The company has benched more than 300 employees. Because of this, now pay and jobs of more than 300 employees are at risk. The company has violated Maharashtra state Government's directions, rules and regulations issued on 31st March 2020."

The letter also requests the Labour Commissioner to take appropriate legal action against Accenture, Hinjewadi-Pune  Harpreet Saluja, General Secretary, NITES said, "We have received complaints from employees of Accenture, Hinjewadi, Pune regarding the layoff & forcing employees to resign immediately to maintain the profitability of business under COVID - 19 Pandemic. NITES is highly concerned about the number of IT employees and their families who are now at risk of survival due to this unfortunate incident."

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As per Accenture's statement, the layoffs are a part of their annual performance management process where they assess every candidate on their performance, and if they are fit for the firm. It said, "This year, across all parts of our business and all career levels, we will identify approximately 5% of our people as our lowest performers, and these individuals will transition out of Accenture. This is consistent with our actions each year."

BusinessToday.In has a copy of the letter of complaint that NITES filed to Labour Commissioner of Pune. According to reports from Australian Financial Review (AFR), Accenture is looking to cut 5 per cent of its workforce globally. It said that Accenture CEO Julie Sweet in a virtual internal staff meeting said that in a normal year, 5 per cent of employees are transitioned out, and hiring takes place to replace them. "Right now, we're not in a demand scenario, so if we manage out the same percentage of people and don't replace them, it allows us to continue to invest and preserve some people who have lower chargeability for when the market comes back," she said.

Since India has the largest employee base of two lakh of its five lakh employees worldwide, five percent layoffs will impact 10,000 Indian employees.

Also read: Accenture to lay off employees; 5% staff to be impacted in India

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