Accenture: An insider guide - Gymkhana

Travel
Most of Accenture’s work takes place at client sites, and you’ll often need to
travel to get there. For some, this is a perk, and for others, a trying routine.
To try to lessen the burden of being away from friends and family for days at a
time, the firm follows a “seven to seven” schedule, meaning consultants leave for
the client site around 7:00 a.m. on Monday morning and are at home by Friday at
7:00 p.m. Many return to their home city on Thursday night and then work from
their home or a local Accenture office on Friday. “The plus is that you’re spending
more nights at home than at the apartment. The downside—you’re still
spending three nights away,” says an insider.
The Workplace
Some insiders report that travel has subsided from years past. “We tend to have
much larger contracts and that lets you forecast what your demand is, rather
than having short-term demand where you’re bringing in short-term resources.”
On the flip side, strategy consultants, whose project work can be as short as a
month, can find themselves in several cities each year.
A lot of factors go into whether you end up in Honolulu or Manhattan, starting
with your skill set and whether you’re in an industry group that’s clustered around
certain cities. And not everyone ends up living out of a suitcase 4 days a week.
Consultants in government services, not surprisingly, can work for years out of
their home base—as long as it’s Washington, D.C., or another big capital city.
“It’s really just luck of the draw. It’s very much timing—if you happen to be
available at a time when there’s a big demand for a project that’s in another city,
you’ll be on that project.”
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