PwC have confirmed a flexible working policy allowing its 22,000 UK staff to split their working hours between their home and office after the pandemic, says The Guardian. This follows last month’s announcement that 13,00 Nationwide office staff (although not branch-based workers) can work anywhere after lockdown ends.
According to The Guardian, PwC expects staff to spend 40-60% of their time with colleagues – either in the office or out on client visits – once Covid restrictions have been lifted, with the freedom to work remotely for the rest of the week.
Staff will also be permitted to “personalise” the structure of their working day – for example, by starting and finishing work when they wish. During July and August employees will also be allowed to condense their working week to enable them to finish at lunchtime on Fridays.
PwC is said to be spending £75m in office redesign, with collaboration-friendly cafe meeting areas, and is equipping its remote staff with VR headsets to improve meetings. According to the company’s latest CEO survey, 86% of UK CEOs say there is an enduring shift towards remote collaboration, with 77% saying that remote collaboration will drive long term change to their business models. (You can read an exclusive report on VR’s importance to remote working and collaboration, by Charlie Neuner, strategy, XR at PwC, here.)
