Accenture’s India unit has laid off several employees for obtaining job offers from Accenture by using documentation and experience letters from fraudulent companies.
This comes at a time when tech firms struggle to make sense of trends such as moonlighting or employees with side gigs.
In response to a question from The Hindu, Accenture India issued a statement saying,” “We have uncovered an effort to exploit documents and experience letters from bogus organisations to seek offers of employment from Accenture in India… People that we can confirm used this strategy have been fired. To ensure that there won’t be any effects on our capacity to service our clients, we have taken the necessary steps.”
Although it is unknown how many Accenture employees were involved in the scam, buzz on Twitter is that thousands were caught.
Accenture also stated that it has “zero tolerance for any non-adherence” to its strict business ethics code. “We are continuing to hire and honour current job offers for suitable people,” the statement said.
The blunder that resulted in techies with questionable credentials joining Accenture could be the result of accelerated employee onboarding to meet skyrocketing pandemic demand. According to reports, a large number of Human Resources managers are now reviewing the experience letters and other documents of those hired during the pandemic boom.
Besides the lack of verification prior to hiring new employees, the uncertainty during the pandemic led to techies opting for side gigs, which grew into a moonlighting crisis for the IT sector. Companies like Infosys and Wipro have done massive layoffs, citing moonlighting.