We know how important it is for our employees to strike a balance between their work and personal lives. With a serious commitment to flexibility in the workplace and the convenience of laptops, wireless phones, remote access to email and a variety of other technological innovations, we can offer our people a flexible approach — giving them options for how and where they do their work.

Flexible working arrangements must be driven by a business need and are determined locally in each country to take into account local practice, culture and law. Currently, Accenture has flexible work arrangement policies in Australia and in more than 30 countries around the world. However, not all of the flexible work options described below are offered in every location or for every role. Below are some of the various working arrangements we offer our people.

Flex Time
A flex time schedule allows people to vary their start and finish times around pre-determined "core hours.” Flex time may also enable an employee to work his/her standard hours in fewer than five days by varying the length of each workday. This schedule may be used by someone who has, for example, standing daily commitments during regular working hours, such as dropping-off or picking-up a child from school or by someone who would benefit from having an additional day away from the office.

Part-Time
A part-time arrangement enables an employee to work less than a standard full-time schedule per week. This can be accomplished by either working fewer hours per day or fewer days per week. Usually the employee’s role is designed around a reduced workload so that job responsibilities match the number of hours worked. This type of arrangement has often worked well for people who have decided to give priority to other commitments in their lives, but still wish to continue working. This option helps Accenture retain people with valuable skills.

Job Sharing
A job-sharing arrangement usually involves dividing the workload of a full-time position between two people (usually each working a part-time schedule). Job-sharing is a great way for our people to keep on the career track while allowing them more time outside of work.

Telecommuting/Home Working
Telecommuting/home working enables an individual to work from a location other than an Accenture office or project site. While some employees telecommute/work from home regularly, others use this option on a more ad hoc basis as the need arises. This arrangement can reduce the time, costs and stress of commuting for the employee while also helping Accenture control and in some cases reduce the cost of fixed office space.

Client-site flexible work arrangements
Balancing work and personal life may be even more challenging for our consulting people who spend much of their time working at client sites away from their home location.

We offer our consultants a range of flexible working options to help meet their needs while still meeting the needs of our clients. Several options may be possible, such as working nine consecutive days at the client site, followed by five consecutive days at an approved alternative location such as at home. Of these five days, one is spent on business activities and the other four are time-off.

Alternatively, an employee might complete a five-day work week with four days at the project site, staying three or four nights at the out-of-town location, followed by a fifth day in the home office or at an approved alternate location.