PwC UK to let staff start and finish when they like

In the future, employees of PriceWaterhouseCooper (PwC) will be allowed to work from home for a couple of days a week, and start the day as early or as late as they want.

In the wake of the COVID pandemic, the company is offering its staff much more control over their working pattern.

In addition to the personalise-able working days, its 22,000 UK based staff will be allowed to finish early on Fridays in July and August.

Staff will be able to split their working time about half and half (40-60 per cent) between at home and with colleagues, either in the office or out on client visits.

The company’s UK chairman Kevin Ellis commented, “these changes are in direct response to soundings from our people, who’ve said they value a mix of working from home and in the office”. 

According to Mr Ellis, “the future of work is changing at such a pace that we have to evolve continually how we do things to meet the needs of our people and our clients”. 

“We want to help enshrine new working patterns so they outlast the pandemic. Without conscious planning now, there’s a risk that we lose the best bits of these new ways of working when the economy opens up again,” he said.

Business leaders remain divided over the development. Some major employers continue to oppose remote working arrangements. For example, in February, Goldman Sachs boss David Solomon called remote working an “aberration”, and dismissed the idea it might become the “new normal”.