556 employees to lose jobs as Accenture plans to leave Bangladesh

Technological service and outsourcing company Accenture is leaving Bangladesh, letting go of 556 employees.

The company will fold on Nov 30 after payments to employees have been completed, according to an email sent out by Accenture to its employees.

“An email sent to the company’s 556 current employees on Tuesday said that all employee payments will be made until November,” Md Shaheen Ahmed, general secretary of Accenture Employees Union Bangladesh, told bdnews24.com.

“The email also said the Bangladesh branch of the company would close after November.”

The email mentioned that Accenture Bangladesh’s work would be brought in-house and handled by branches in other countries.

The folding of the company will harm the government’s initiative for a Digital Bangladesh and lead to a dark future for the employees released into the job market, said a dismayed Ahmed.

In 2010, Grameenphone Information Technology or GPIT was made a separate subsidiary. Accenture entered the market in 2013, acquiring a 51 percent stake in GPIT and changed the name of the company to Accenture Communications and Infrastructure Solutions Ltd or ACISL.

The mail does not suggest the company will pay any compensation to employees, Ahmed said.

ACISL services will be transitioned in-house and to third parties as part of a reorganisation by Telenor Group and Accenture, Shabnam Khan, a spokesperson for Accenture, told bdnews24.com.

“Some employees of ACISL will have the opportunity to be offered roles by the third-party provider as part of this transition. ACISL will assist all employees, as appropriate, during this transition period,” she said.