When asked to agree or disagree with the following statements: "My firm rewards individual achievement" and, "My firm fosters a team-oriented culture," consultants at PricewaterhouseCoopers overwhelmingly agreed—to the tune of 4.7 out of a possible 5.
Scores such as these helped catapult PricewaterhouseCoopers onto our Best Firms to Work For list for the first time, and that type of feedback is crucial for Dana McIlwain, U.S. Advisory Leader for PricewaterhouseCoopers.
"To us, it means we're a firm that values everyone's unique contribution, a firm that respects people's commitments to work, family and community, and provides flexibility in working arrangements to accommodate and embrace a diverse workforce," McIlwain says. "We're a firm that rewards teamwork, collaboration, innovation and quality."
And all of those attributes make PwC a firm that's not only a great place to work for its consultants, but make it a great firm to work with from a client's perspective, McIlwain says.
"We genuinely care about building deep, long-term relationships with our clients," he says. "Our clients benefit from working with a highly diverse workforce that brings multiple perspectives, deep functional and industry experience, a passion for excellence and delivering value and interest, not just in the business problem at hand, but in the challenges clients face at the human level."
Getting all those consultants to buy into the same message from leadership is no easy task, but McIlwain says PwC has been able to do it because it's a firm "that values the whole person," and that's one of the big differentiators for the firm.
"The firm is committed to providing our people the tools and policies to deliver their very best," says McIlwain. "We have aligned our entire organization, its structure, people, processes, technologies and tools to empower the individual so that they can focus on our clients and access the skills and capabilities needed to address client issues seamlessly across the US and around the globe."
But none of that would be possible—nor would the inclusion on this year's Best Firms to Work For ranking—without a strong team of leaders running the firm. The strong leadership qualities at PwC are revealed in two questions where the firm scored near the top in the survey. They are: "My firm's senior leaders create a positive work environment that helps me do my job," and, "My firm's managers value employees."
"Without strong leadership, we would not have a defined culture, we would not have a commitment to embrace and value diversity, and we would not have in place the needed systems and tools that drive, rather that limit, creativity and innovation," he says.
—Joe Kornik
| Practice Spotlight Financial Services Advisory In a tough year for the financial services sector, PricewaterhouseCoopers managed to maintain a healthy culture and high morale in the practice, according to the Best Firms to Work For survey findings. How? John Garvey, the Financial Services Advisory and Banking and Capital Markets sector leader for PwC, says it's a matter of the importance of the work the practice is doing. "Our financial services practice is extremely active in the market, and our team can see the high level of relevance that our practice has to the industry," Garvey says. "We have created a mindset of true client service, which creates a more rewarding experience for the team." Because the practice is so high profile at PwC, Garvey says the firm sets incredibly high standards. "We set high expectations and we support each other in meeting those high expectations," he says. "The fact that we are being recognized confirms that we have a group of professionals in our Financial Services Advisory practice that recognizes the importance of operating with a client-centric focus, communicating openly and candidly and pushing one's self and each other to a higher level of performance," Garvey says. |
© Arc, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to TMSalesOperations@arc-network.com. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.