Choose Your Own Adventure: PwC’s Journey to Re-Make the Employee Experience

PwC’s My+ may revolutionize professional services talent management

TBR Special Report - In mid-June, TBR spoke with J.C. Lapierre, Chief Strategy & Communications Officer, PwC US, to better understand PwC’s My+, including how the initiative fits within the network’s The New Equation strategy and framework and near-term expectations for My+. 

In this special report, TBR highlights that, ‘If PwC’s plans pay off, in a few years every professional at the U.S. firm will have choices in how they work - determining for themselves what they do, where they do it, how much time they do it, whether they travel for work, and what benefits meet their needs. This Choose Your Own Adventure approach to talent management, called by PwC as My+, could completely alter the way Big Four firms and other professional services vendors recruit, retain, and manage their talent.’

The report states that, ‘Lapierre started with an update on PwC’s The New Equation, roughly a year after launch, and spelled out for TBR the five basic “chapters,” which include: (1) why trust and sustained outcomes are so important for business moving forward , (2) investments in capabilities, (3) simplification and making PwC easier to work with, (4) the people experience, and (5) purpose and community. TBR noted that multiple discussions with PwC professionals and the firm’s PwC US clients – inside and outside the U.S. – indicated the emphasis on trust, as part of both the strategy (chapter one) and the Trust Leadership Institute (integral to chapter five, ‘Community’), resonated positively and provided professionals, partners, and clients a sense of the firm’s mission and direction.’

It goes on to say that ‘Underpinning PwC’s My+, according to Lapierre, the firm focused on four pillars: (1) well-being, (2) total rewards, (3) development, and (4) always a PwCer. After noting that the U.S. firm already added an extra week of firm-wide shutdown, Lapierre said the efforts around well-being would include “protected time,” in which an employee’s bosses and peers would be notified that the employee wouldn’t be available. The technology aspect of this initiative would include prompts before taking protected time and analytics around employees’ actual behaviours.’

In TBR’s view, ‘professional services firms – and most notably the Big Four firms – struggle with balancing client demands plus partner’s expectations with employees’ needs for time away from work. Shifting this culture and enabling employees “protected time” to stay their own would be a significant change and, in TBR’s view, may be necessary to retain talent coming into the workforce post-pandemic.’

The report also states that, ‘Accountability might be the secret key to unlocking a successful Choose Your Own Adventure. If this works, in three years PwC US employees will be empowered to choose how, where, when, what, and how long they work, while also being accountable – to themselves and to the firm – for their choices. If this works, PwC will also have rewritten what work culture can look like at a Big Four firm and will, by example and by taking away top talent, force peers and competitors to change, as well.’

J.C. Lapierre, Chief Strategy and Communications Officer, PwC US said, ‘The past three years have had a dramatic effect on people, and as a result, individuals are now reassessing what they want to do and how they want to work. This fundamental workforce shift extends beyond whether people are physically convening in an office or not. People are seeking opportunities that allow them to live their lives how they want to, including meeting the needs of their families, finding work that aligns with their beliefs and creating an environment in which they are building the skills needed for the future. While these needs are universal, what they mean to an individual is personal, underscoring the need for choices. We are proud of our people and the bold steps we are taking as a firm with the introduction of My+.’

Click here to read the report 

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