Accounting and consulting firm PwC will allow all its 40,000 U.S. client services employees to work virtually and live anywhere they want in perpetuity according to its statement on Thursday.
Permanent Remote Working
With this move, PwC becomes one of the biggest employers to embrace permanent remote work.
This change also announces a departure from the accounting industry’s rigid attitudes, which was earlier known for encouraging people to put in late nights at the office.
Apart from PwC, other accounting firms including Deloitte and KPMG have also been giving more choice to work remotely to their employees in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic.
First To Allow Remote Working
PwC firm was the first in its industry to make full-time virtual work available to client services employees, said PwC’s deputy people leader, Yolanda Seals-Coffield, in an interview.
The accounting firm had already given the option to work virtually full-time to its support staff and employees in areas such as human resources and legal operations who do not face clients directly.
Further, Seals-Coffield said that those who choose to work virtually would have to come into the office a maximum of three days a month for in-person appointments such as critical team meetings, client visits and learning sessions.
Seals-Coffield said, “We have learned a ton through the pandemic, and working virtually, as we think about the evolution of flexibility, is a natural next step,”.
Further adding, “If you are an employee in good standing, are in client services, and want to work virtually, you can, full stop.”
Remote Working Affecting Pay
According to Seals-Coffield, location does factor, however, into PwC employees’ pay. So employees who opt to work virtually full-time from a lower-cost location would see their pay decrease.
Apart from PwC, Alphabet Inc’s (GOOGL.O) Google also bases employees’ pay on their location. Basically, those who work from home permanently potentially earning less.
Since the pandemic took hold in March 2020, most of the U.S. white-collar workers have been working from home.
So far, chief executives have grappled with bringing employees back, weighing their management style and preferences against risks such as more contagious COVID-19 variants and workers rejecting vaccines.
With this move, PwC is not planning to make any significant changes to its real estate footprint, Seals-Coffield said.
According to her, PwC plans to use its office space differently and in more collaborative ways, she said, without elaborating.
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