PwC orders staff back to the office three days a week

PwC has ordered its staff to work at least three days a week in the office or with clients as it becomes the latest company to clamp down on working policies.

The Big Four accountancy firm’s 26,000 staff previously were expected to attend the office two to three days a week.

“Face-to-face working is hugely important to a people business like ours and the new policy tips the balance of our working week into being located alongside clients and colleagues,” Laura Hinton, managing partner at PwC, said.

• Young staff least likely to work from home

“This feels right for our business and right for our people, given our focus on client service, coaching and learning and development. At the same time, we continue to offer flexibility through hybrid working.”

The move comes as a growing number of employers seek to increase office attendance. Hybrid working boomed after the pandemic and led to a seismic shift in how businesses operated, with many adopting flexible working patterns to retain staff and attract new recruits.

During this time, PwC said it had no intention of downsizing its offices, which span 15 cities in the UK, despite staff working from home.

This year EY, a rival firm, began monitoring how often its staff attended the office by tracking anonymised swipe-card entry data, while other large companies such as Lloyds Bank, JP Morgan, HSBC and Citigroup have tightened their flexible working policies recently.

Deloitte, another rival, made cutbacks during the pandemic amid an increase of home workers, closing offices in Gatwick, Liverpool, Nottingham and Southampton. However, this year it took on extra office space in central London. The firm had sharply reduced its British office space in response to the shift to hybrid working and has told staff that they can decide themselves when to work from home.Kevin Ellis, the former chairman of PwC UK, has been outspoken about office working. “The idea of being trapped in a room with a screen doesn’t fill me with any excitement,” he said in March. Ellis was a vocal supporter of staff spending more time in the office, suggesting that increased office presence for younger staff could help to boost their careers.

PwC’s decision follows the announcement that it will cut its popular summer perk of early finishes on Fridays, reducing the benefit from eight weeks last year to six weeks this year, down from a dozen in 2022.

⬤ Country Garden said that PwC had agreed to resign as its auditor as the property developer became the latest Chinese company to sever ties with the firm. Country Garden said it had appointed the Hong Kong-based Zhonghui Anda CPA as its new auditor, at least until the conclusion of its next annual general meeting. PwC has been in focus over its role in auditing China Evergrande Group, which was accused of a $78 billion fraud, triggering a client exodus, cost-cutting and job losses.