“In the field of business consulting, we have recruited many skills from Europe and the USA. A good example of this is the risk and remediation financial services sector.

We are in this cyclical competition for the same small number of people and that means the lever that is being pulled is the cost.

– Sarah Kruger, HR manager at Accenture ANZ

“Many of the challenges our banks have continued to face in recent years and in the recovery space are challenges that global banks and global financial services companies have been through.

“This experience and talent that is in these other countries is important and just not physically possible at the moment.”

Wage pressure

Ms. Kruger estimates that approximately 80 to 85 percent of the skilled workers the company plans to bring to Australia are Accenture employees overseas, while the rest are new hires.

While Accenture overseas employees can continue to work remotely on Australian projects, the company’s consultants have found it easier and more rewarding to work together face-to-face on complex customer issues.

The company has around 5000 directors and employees in Australia and New Zealand.

“The [staff] Deficiency is likely a few hundred people. I think we could definitely get these people busy right away if we could bring them in. We still support our customers, of course, but more people would be helpful, ”said Ms. Kruger.

She said the high demand for experienced professionals from consulting firms and industry leads to higher wages.

“The Associated costs [the closed borders]Like salaries in general in this sector, they are increasing significantly, ”she said. “This is something that we, our competitors, and our customers are definitely facing right now.

“We’re in this cyclical competition for the same small number of people and that means the lever that is being pulled is the cost.”

Salary data from the recruiting giant Search since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic shows average salaries for software testing and quality assurance roles as well as software architects rose by almost 4 percent in one year.

In Australia, Accenture pays more than $ 68,000 for an analyst (approximately one to three years of experience), more than $ 96,000 for a consultant (three to five years), more than $ 130,000 for a senior consultant (five to seven years), and more than $ 170,000 for a manager (over seven years), according to data on the Glassdoor company valuation website and research by The Australian Financial Review.

One consequence of the shortage is that Accenture’s on-site employees are under pressure trying to meet customer requirements, while the company wants to bring in more experts.

“This ability to access the right skills at the right time is difficult with closed borders,” said Ms. Kruger.

“This has a number of implications, one of which is the impact on our people, as we don’t have enough people to do the work we need to do right now, that is, the people you have are feeling the burden of the extra Load and want to do the right thing from their customers.

“If they had more help, their life would be easier, and while we are very aware of this and are working to manage it and support our employees, the potential effects of mental health, fatigue and stress are things that we are I am very aware that we are dealing with it correctly because we do not want it for our people. This is not right for our people. So it is very important that we can do it. “

The company is also expanding the types of people the company will hire to include those who haven’t gone to college and others who want to return to work after an absence or career change.

“We’re definitely broadening our focus on graduates and early careers and looking for new sources of talent,” she said.

“You know, we traditionally only recruited from universities at the entry point of our careers. And it’s actually about expanding that because there are some really talented people who didn’t necessarily go to college. “