Ian Elliott video transcript

Our focus on people

Our people are front and centre of who we are and what we do. We want to hire, nurture and develop the best, most diverse teams to deliver sustained outcomes for our clients.

So, our focus this year has been on enhancing the Deal we offer our people, and using our position as a large employer to create fairer access to opportunities across the UK. 

Last financial year we made an unprecedented level of investment in our people, and this year, we’ve gone further still - from expanding wellbeing support and enhancing flexibility, to upskilling opportunities and, importantly, our biggest investment in pay in 10 years. We’ve continued to take a people-led approach against a backdrop of ongoing change and disruption.

We promoted around 4,000 of our people, and provided training that supports our people to be the inclusive, quality-driven, and knowledgeable leaders that our clients expect - including racial awareness, ESG, technology, and our flagship milestone leadership programmes.

New ways of working

Bringing our teams back together in person once again has been a real highlight. As our people returned to our offices and client sites, we gave everyone a one-off bonus of £1,000 to support the transition. And half priced food and drink in our buildings has gone down predictably well!

With a bold new ambition to build the best hybrid workplace, we’ve invested in our buildings and cutting edge technology too. But it’s about much more than that.

It’s about creating the conditions for our people to thrive, and building a sense of belonging and inclusion for all - an area we continue to focus on through our inclusion and diversity five point plan.

It’s also about trust and two-way flexibility; giving our people even more freedom than ever before to choose how, where and when they work. We’ve introduced summer working hours, a new approach to working remotely overseas, and flexible bank holidays.

Where next

But we know this past year hasn’t always been easy. External events have impacted our people as they have others. We’ve focused on showing them care through unsettling times, taking action, speaking out, and providing specific wellbeing support on important issues - whether that’s the pandemic, war, racial inequality, the cost of living crisis, or the menopause and fertility.

While we’re always exploring new ways of making PwC an even better place to work, we’re proud of our progress so far. Even amid continued disruption, a hot jobs market, and shifting work-life expectations, our people engagement score hit an all time record high of 80% in May.

The experience we offer and investments we’ve made are also helping us to stand out in the market. We had hundreds of thousands of applications to our firm, and welcomed around 6,000 new joiners and 550 paid interns. We expanded our Tech Degree Apprenticeship programme, through a partnership with Ada, the National College for Digital Skills - our first with a further education college, rather than a university. It’s one of many examples of how we’re broadening access to our profession among under-represented groups, along with our ongoing commitment to the 10,000 Black Interns programme.

Looking ahead, there is no doubt we will see further disruption and challenges. But by continuing to focus on accelerating skills development, creating the conditions for our people to thrive, and human and inclusive leadership, we are ready and excited for what’s to come.