PwC interview - How family friendly/flexible?

[KiraCeleste]

I've got an interview with PwC next week, but whether I accept the job (if offered, obvs!) is much very much dependent on how flexible they are. I have a 15 month old son and currently work compressed hours of 8-5 4 days a week so I can look after him on one of the days. I currently work for a charity who are very flexible, however the pay and opportunities for progression are quite lacking, which is what drew me to the post at PwC.

Does anyone have experience of working for PwC, and how do they find them in terms of flex and work/life balance? The role is not in finance and audit, and is in digital engagement, which I'm hoping is less cutthroat than elsewhere in the company. It's at Senior Associate level so if anyone knows what the pay scale is for that too it'd be very much appreciated 😉

Hello

Honestly the people I know all work extra hours and have to be at client sites which isn't very family friendly. They pride themselves on work life balance but are ultimately driven by what the client wants.

Absolutely not at all In my experience. I am a self-employed contractor who works through a consultancy and there’s lots of them.
You don’t need to go for the big four and most are far more friendly in general. Never mind towards families.

I would expect there to be a lot of overtime, especially at senior associate level 😬

A few years there and promotion to assistant manager/manager would look great on your CV though.

What does it say on the job ad as far as hours? I would suspect they are the hours they are looking for, after a few months you may be able to make a case for flexibility but mostly if an employer is open to flexible they put it in the ad (it's a selling point!)

Not family friendly at all if you're client facing. What the client wants, the client gets (that's why they're paying a premium). And that usually involves long hours, travel and unpredictable urgent demands. Your current compressed hours of say 10 hours a day are probably shorter than normal working days in this type of role. I've worked for PWC as well as their competitors and my average weekly hours were 50-70+ hours. At one client, the standing 'joke' was that the only person who had Saturday off was the manager because he was Jewish. They're a great organisation to work for but not a role I would take if I had a young child unless my partner was a SAHP (and very understanding!!)

Thanks for the honesty everyone! It’s good to hear your experiences as my number one priority is having as much access to my son as possible.

@gogohmm on the job ad it says ‘full time’ and the recruiter who I had the screening phonecall with said 8:45-5. I asked about flexi but she said they only offer wfh 2 days a week, so was going to ask if offered the role of they offer compressed hours.

@HundredMilesAnHour my partner would be open to cutting his hours and taking the day with our son if I got a considerable pay rise, however if as you say I will be working evenings and weekends then I’m really not up for that!

Suspect compressed hours will be a no as most people work more hours per day than contracted.

It really depends what team it is and where the role is. Some teams have much more of a culture of flexible working. I used to work 4 days a week which was fine in my team. Core hours though are 9.30 - 5.30 and I never was aware of anyone not having to work those officially although unofficially some people did. Senior Associate is relatively junior in the hierarchy though and, if you're client facing, most people will be expected to put in a fair number of extra hours (and you'll be performance moderated against people who do).

I think you have to be realistic OP that whilst you would probably get a significant rise in salary (especially compared to the charity sector), it doesn't come for free. It will be accompanied by a significant increase in both pressure and hours. That's the nature of the industry I'm afraid. Plenty of people are willing to suck it up because it aligns with their long term goals. It's a great opportunity. But in a junior role with a young child, it will be very tough.

The fact you intend to ask about flexitime indicates to me that this probably isn't the role for you. These roles are usually about doing the hours necessary to get the work done rather than fixed hours. And anyone who says you're not effective at your job if you can't get it done in a standard working day has clearly never worked in this industry and experienced the sheer volume (and complexity) of work required and all done at pace. When you have your interview, if they talk about work-life balance, consider that a red flag. If they have to talk how much they value it, it usually means its a problem area for them. 😏

I worked there for 12 years in an advisory role. It's not flexible. They do have people on different hours to fit in with nursery and school collecting. They still expect you to get the job done to short deadlines so the norm is to log on again "after the children are in bed" is the phrase lots of mainly men used.

There will be work travel required from time to time which is exhausting and takes you away from dc.

They didn't allow compressed hours. A 10 hour day is fairly standard anyway for most staff. They will give part time hours but mainly to existing staff.

I used to leave at 5pm 2 days a week and have one day off. I lasted a year and then they made me redundant. My boss said he wasn't sexist and just wanted the best person for the job. That best person had to be able to work the long hours I'd Always worked prior to mat leave.

I got negative feedback from my senior manager (who had 2 dc and lots of parental help) for leaving at 5pm even though I'd agreed it and she knew no one else would be able to collect ds!

They encourage a cut throat and ruthless level of ambition and deliberately pit people against each other in a "may the best man win" way. They promise you promotion but hold it over you for a long time. Some people get promoted quickly so you feel worse because it must be something wrong with you.

I left and am highly rated in the "number 5" firm.

This is pretty standard at big 4. If you can stand the pressure and put in the hours its great experience but beware its not as well paid as you'd think for the extra time commitments required.

I would also agree with that. I’m probably with the six or seven on the list and I get paid double what somebody in PwC or KPMG would get paid

Honestly with any of the big 4, they expect their pound of flesh. I would expect that even asking about part time at interview stage would mean you'd be culled from the pile.

Well I actually work at PwC rather than being someone who "has heard" or pretends to know what it's like....

My experience is that it is super family friendly. I have been there over 20 years and it is one of the main reasons I stay there. Part of "The Deal" (do look it up - they may ask you if you've read about it!) is that we are encouraged to make use of every day flexibility. It is a hybrid working environment - I am 80% FTE and go into the office 1-2 days a week.

Yes there are the odd times where I have to work into the evening. I reckon I've had to do that twice in the past 12 months. I can't remember the last time I worked at the weekend. No I don't want to be a Partner and perhaps that would be necessary if I did, who knows. But it's certainly no expected or encouraged.

Which office would you be based in? As you may be able to tell I think you should go for it!

@ActuallyWorkAtPwC ah ok, good to hear. I do wonder if it depends on what team you’re in. It would be at the Cardiff site. May I PM you with some more questions/details? 🙂

@KiraCeleste I also work at PwC but am on mat leave currently and I've decided not to return once mat leave finishes.

I'm a senior manager and work for a London team and the work is relentless. I get phone calls late into the evening and when something needs done, no-one cares what your personal commitments are.

However, I used to work for a regional office and easily worked 8-4 everyday. I think I had to stay late once in two years!

So it really does depend on your office/team as to what the culture is.

I'm a bit gutted to be honest that I feel like I've no choice but to leave - still wondering if I should request a career break to keep the option open in the future but I just know having a young baby and PwC (at least in my team/role) won't mix.

@MimiArm I agree that anecdotally the regional offices seem to have a better culture than London. I didn't find it massively compatible with a small child either though. I lasted 9 months after maternity leave although I left for all sorts of reasons, not just the lack of flexibility. But I had a client that demanded a daily 6pm call (including on the day that I didn't work) and I had to suck it up.

Yeah, I'm a senior manager in the regions - I'm also not in audit. I do think it very much depends on your team, although in my 20 years I've def seen more and more encouragement that people shouldn't be working extensively outside core hours across the whole firm.

I'm really sorry you feel like that Mimi as I've been through 2 maternity leaves with PwC and felt hugely supported with a small baby - had it easier than many of my friends, even when hybrid working wasn't a thing I was always able to work from home if needing to look after poorly children (husband a hospital doctor so not always easy to just ask him to stay at home!)

Oh, and yes of course happy to try and help if you send me a PM OP

I agree that the culture was definitely changing. But I got a bit sick and tired of being given a poor rating year after year because I didn't work as many hours as other people (although still obviously worked my contracted hours). Despite what they say, chargeable hours were still a hugely important factor in performance appraisal.

The big4 are not family friendly or indeed friendly to anyone who wants to have a life outside of work

I think whether or not the role is client facing is going to be key. It’s not clear from “digital engagement” - do you know?

I work with a number of ex-PWC people. All of them say they would never go back to practice, PWC or otherwise.

No personal experience though! But if flexibility is important it might be worth looking at industry rather than practice?

I'm in "Big" consulting and it depends entirely on the role. We have people traveling non stop for niche client facing roles, we also have people permanently based in local offices on standard office hours. That said, even our client facing roles are more flexible than they used to be as our clients have become more flexible post covid and remote working is more normalised for many.

So is this a role in a central team delivering services to PWC as a business or a client facing advisory role where the hours are likely to be much longer and with more travel? If the role description doesn't include travel to client site then its likely to be internal services and on more standard hours.

All the Bigs are much more parent friendly than they used to be, all still have pockets where practice is way behind intent. Everything depends on the role.

Thanks for this thread OP, I'm CS and have often wondered what the jump to PwC would be like...I'm worried due to the nature of it being client facing that it would be very pressured not flexible.

I agree it matters whether the job is client facing or not. If client facing it doesn’t sound for you. Your ‘compressed hours’ sound Iike less than everyone’s regular hours in low intensity periods for my decade at Pwc.