Ben Higgin video transcript

The New Equation is our global strategy, which addresses the breadth and complexity, of the challenges facing businesses and society today. We’re committed to investing alongside our clients, to deliver results that make the difference, and that’s what The New Equation is all about.

To demonstrate our commitment to regional growth, last October, we announced our plans to create 1,000 jobs, over the next three years, at our newly launched technology centre in Manchester, which is where I am today. We are excited and proud to be building our technology centre in the North, which reflects the critical and growing role of new technologies, to our business and our clients both in the region and nationally. 

Earlier this year, we commissioned a report by The University of Salford, to help us, as well as other organisations, to think about technology talent in the region. It focussed on three main areas: the supply and demand imbalance for technology talent; how technology businesses and roles are serving our diverse communities, particularly female, Black and neurodiverse talent. It also focuses on the level of fragmentation in the system and whether this will be a barrier to achieving better outcomes, for businesses and communities at scale.

We want to do our part in solving this important issue of structural imbalance, and as a result, we are committed to being a contributor of technology talent to the market, just like we’ve done across our accounting and consulting professions. This goes right to the heart of our purpose at PwC: which is to build trust in society and solve important problems.

Part of the solution, is to nurture and invest in talent, which is why we’re proud to have created new partnerships this year with Queen Mary’s University of London and Ada College, to help us to diversify our entry routes into technology careers. This is in addition to our existing Tech Degree apprenticeship and Technology graduate programmes. 

This human-led, tech-powered approach, sits at the heart of The New Equation. We are upskilling our teams and helping to increase tech skills throughout society, to ensure our people, our clients and our communities can embrace the full power of technology in a way that is guided by human understanding and a diversity of thought and experience. 

All employers have a choice - compete for tech talent or invest in increasing the talent pool and making technology careers a possibility for many more people in society. Not only are we investing in our people, but we’re also working with educators and supporting initiatives such as Tech She Can, to increase the availability of tech skills. 

Society needs a greater technology skills base and the existing routes are not going to produce enough talent without the support of business.  These challenges will be better solved together and that’s why at PwC we are committed to being a business which plays its part.