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 😉

My experience in a regional office but part of a London team was not great. They tried to woo me back by saying that the culture had got much better. I still have a good friend there who tells me otherwise. I know more men than women have lasted there. Bumped into a senior manager I knew who'd been there 13 years recently but she was leaving to go to a very small firm because she had a primary age dc and she'd been overlooked for promotion.

You might find it's all a bit academic anyway if your interviewer is on here as you
can easily be identified with the amount of info you have given.🥴

Hey, name changed for this as I also work for PwC and have to say I don’t particularly recognise what some people are saying. It will hugely depend on where you’ll be working and what team and whether you’re client facing. You mention the hours of 8.45 - 5, is it Operate? We have a huge cohort of our team in Cardiff and everyone I’ve met is lovely.

Generally it’s a no to compressed hours but there is a lot of flexibility and very few people only work from home two days a week, I would say most people average 1-2 days in the office.

For 3 months in the summer they operate summer working hours where you work an hour extra a day to get Friday afternoons off.

What I enjoy about working there are the progression and training opportunities and the variety of work. I’ve completed 2 professional qualifications (not accounting) There’s also a 6 monthly review cycle, I’ve been there 2 years and have had 3 pay rises!!!

Happy to answer any other specific questions either on the thread or PM

Yep, would agree with you @actuallyworkthere

Obviously I can't speak for other teams etc, but many of the views shared here seem to be based on hearsay or outdated experiences.

Just to add to my earlier post - I am very much client facing, have had to work late into the evening (from home) maybe twice in the last year, and genuinely can't remember working at the weekend (other than when I was doing professional exams). When I go into the office I skew my hours so that I get in at 8 and leave by 4 - things honestly could not be more flexible

I think it also depends on your idea of flexibility. I once had to attend a three hour workshop on my day off. Flexibility in this case meant allowing me to attend with my toddler son on my lap. It was made clear that there wasn't an option to move it or not attend.

Interesting thread. I know lots of people who have left PwC, but one of my friends is still there, in tax, happy after 2dc.

@Fizzadora I have nothing to hide! As I said, only if I am offered the job I will ask about flexibility and if that’s not something they can offer then it is not right for me at this time. I am lucky that my husband is also willing to help more if needed and my mum lives nearby; plus our nursery is just around the corner from my husband’s work and my son has been there since 6 months old.

@Actuallyworkthethere I will PM you if ok 👍

No problem at all!

I don't work there but do know a few partners/directors and I'd say it depends on the project director etc - I know more about the consultancy side of things, you have to be able to keep your number of billable hours up, the more obstacles in your way the harder this is to do. The overall idea from the top may be flexible and family-friendly but it all comes down to you and what you have to offer - work flexibly but be bloody brilliant, fast, likeable and clever they will flex, be mediocre and fairly rigid in the hours you prepared to work and a bit difficult and you are less valuable and may struggle to get on interesting projects and keep your hours up - when this happens it's not a comfortable place to be. No idea what it's like on the audit side though.

Answers a lot of my questions too!

Useful thread

No direct experience with PwC, but what I would add is it probably makes a massive difference whether or not you are client facing and expected to record your time. Team size is also important.

I work PT in professional services (legal sector). I'm client facing, so have to log X hours per working day. In practice they are OK with me flexing my hours slightly to e.g. break at 4 to do the school run, but I still have to make up the missing time by starting early/finishing late to hit my X hours. There's also an expectation that I'm at least partially available to dip into emails even when my OOO is on. This is exacerbated by the fact that we are a very small team and I often end up holding the fort and juggling childcare because my line manager/colleague's leave has coincided with school holidays or a kid being ill.

My husband moved from client-facing to in-house in one of the Big 4 some years ago, and is now in-house elsewhere. He does not have to log hours (if he does, it's a generic code for the day regardless of what he actually does). As long as he gets his work done and keeps an eye on emails, there is no expectation for him to be online and working all the time. If he doesn't have calls scheduled he has far greater freedom to run errands or help with the school run/childcare without having to 'make up the time'.

It's a constant talking point between us because despite being the lower earner I'm under more stress, less flexible and less able to tolerate distractions during the day than he is. It also hits my bottom line, as if I can't work my X hours in a day because of childcare issues I end up taking annual leave or unpaid leave to cover the gap - which my husband doesn't have to worry about. I've already run out of annual leave halfway through our leave year because of this.

It's not clear which side of the fence your role falls, but something to consider. If I ever change careers, I would avoid client-facing roles with billable hours like the plague while I still have kids at school/nursery - they're just an extra layer of stress.