Accenture named the best employer in South Africa's professional services sector
Global HR certification agency Top Employers Institute has named Accenture the best employer in South Africa for 2018, specifically for the professional services industry. The global management consultancy placed in second overall in South Africa on the list for all industries, primarily due to its innovative HR policies.
In recent years, Accenture has been calling for innovation across the business environment in South Africa to help with the diversification of its economy. The end goal is to bring South Africa to the standard of international best practices, something that the firm has been working towards internally as well.
One area in which the firm has been focusing its innovative efforts is that of its internal HR structure. The firm works on the principle that the employees lie at the heart of a firm’s success, and has been leveraging the latest digital capabilities to enhance its HR mechanisms.
The firm has consequently improved conditions for its employees, specifically with respect to work-life balance, gender equality, mental and physical well being, and access to leadership development initiatives. As a result, the Top Employers Institute has now recognised the firm as the best employer in the South African professional services industry.
An example of Accenture’s innovative initiatives is its Global Challenge programme, designed to promote a healthy lifestyle amongst its employees. The firm has even issues pulse devices for all its employees, which measures the number of steps they take on a daily basis, thereby ensuring that they stay active.
Commenting on the firm’s HR policies, Accenture’s Human Resources Director for Africa, the Middle East and Turkey, Sandy Mohonathan says, “We’ve digitised our HR systems and processes to a large extent and are also currently working on creating an HR policy bots to respond to employee queries.
“We do this through collaboration across HR, rapidly adjusting our work and our talent practices to respond to change while helping our people to do the same,” he adds. The firm emphasises that HR policies extend beyond administrative concerns and need to take on a more holistic role.
“It’s about changing how employees work and live. We re-looked at the ‘truly human’ concept, which is about engaging the mind, heart, body and soul. It’s about balancing personal and professional life. Our new purpose is all about unlocking the abundance of Africa for all, both for our employees as well as the communities in which we live and work,” adds Mohonathan.
