Talent trends 2020

Upskilling: Building confidence
in an uncertain world
Findings from PwC’s 23rd Annual Global CEO Survey

2 | Talent trends 2020

Foreword
As we write, in mid-April 2020, COVID-19 is
the main concern for people and businesses
around the globe. Business leaders haveactivated their contingency plans to keeppeople safe and healthy — and to keep
their businesses running. What remains auniversal truth is that people must always
be at the centre of corporate strategies bothwhen economies are strong and when they
are under threat. What’s also true is that thekeys to unlocking an organisation’s value
lie in the organisation’s culture, in building
and maintaining trust, and in harnessing theright skills.
PwC’s 23rd Annual Global CEO Survey
was conducted before the outbreak of
COVID-19. The results of the questions we
asked about how companies are preparing
their workforce for the digital future andtheir concerns about attracting andretaining talent reflect a world that at thattime was preoccupied with a skills shortage.
We asked about what companies were
doing to fill the skills gap and what were thebenefits of the upskilling programmes they
were starting.
As businesses work to address the current
world health crisis and its economic
impacts, the insights in this report about
the benefits of upskilling your workforce forthe digital future are relevant and important,
not least because they reinforce the factthat a people-centric approach builds thetrust that leadership needs when faced with
disruption: companies that invest in theirpeople develop stronger cultures and are
more confident of their future success.

Carol Stubbings
Joint Global Leader,People and Organisation
Partner, PwC UK

Bhushan Sethi
Joint Global Leader,People and Organisation
Principal, PwC US

3 | Talent trends 2020

Upskilling: Building confidence
in an uncertain world
Developing a workforce withthe digital and transferable
skills you need — and theability to adapt quickly in aworld of constant change —does not happen organicallyor by accident.
PwC’s 23rd Annual Global CEO Survey
shows that those organisations focussed
on expanding their employees’ skills
and therefore further along on the upskilling
curve were ahead of their peers in many
ways and were more confident in their
future.

A well-designed programme to delivera workforce with the digital skills, resilienceand agility is important. “There is anupskilling dividend benefitting companies
as they face an uncertain economy,”according to Bhushan Sethi, Joint Global
Leader of PwC’s People and Organisation
practice. “If words are followed up by
real actions, it demonstrates leadership’s
commitment to its people. Retaining
the right talented people and enhancing
their skills can help them survive today’s
challenges and drives competitive
advantage in the future.”

Upskilling
an organisation’s clear intent to develop its employees’capabilities and employability, and to advance andprogress the knowledge, skills and attitude required toenhance business and individual performance4 | Talent trends 2020

Key findings

Skills remain hard to get

Progress on upskilling can
breed confidence

Upskilling delivers morethan skills

More talk than action

74%

38%

41%

18%

Page 5

Page 8Page 10

Page 13of CEOs were concerned about theavailability of key skills (vs 79% in theprevious year’s survey). Of those, 32%
were “extremely concerned.”of CEOs who are the most advanced indelivering their upskilling programmes werevery confident about growth over the next
12 months. Only 20% of those who are juststarting their upskilling journey agreed.

said that their upskilling programme
has been “very effective” in creating astronger corporate culture and engaging
employees.

of CEOs said they have made “significant
progress” in “establishing an upskilling
programme that develops a mix of soft,
technical and digital skills.”

5 | Talent trends 2020

Skills remain
hard to get6 | Talent trends 2020

A full 74% of CEOs taking part in our
23rd Annual Global CEO Survey said thata lack of availability of the right skills is aconcern.1 When we ran the survey, from
September to October 2019, their worry
was around how that would constrain
growth. Today that same lack of people
with the right skills and adaptability could
hamper companies’ ability to tackle theimpacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.
A year ago, 46% of global CEOs told usthat retraining and upskilling were theirbest options for closing the skills gap intheir organisation. But this year, globally,
only 18% of CEOs said they had made“significant progress” in “establishing an
upskilling programme that develops a mixof soft, technical and digital skills,” thougha further 36% said they had made “someprogress.” Surprisingly, one in ten of thelargest companies in the survey said they
had made no progress at all (the figure
for the smallest companies is only slightly
higher, at 14%). CEOs are struggling to put
their intentions into practice (see Exhibit 1).

1	PwC, 23rd Annual Global CEO Survey, Jan. 2020,
https://www.pwc.com/gx/en/ceo-agenda/ceosurvey/2020.html

Exhibit 1

Companies making significant progress on upskillingsee most progress on building employee engagement

27%

26%

Question:
How much progress has yourorganisation made in the following
areas related to upskilling?
(showing only those who
responded “significant progress”)

24%
20%

18%
13%

Building employee
engagement bycommunicating futureskills needs

Strategy to attract
diverse talent andensuring inclusivenessSource: PwC, 23rd Annual Global CEO Survey
Base: Global respondents (2020=1,581)

Defining skills neededto drive future growth

Improving workers’
and leaders’ knowledgeof techEstablishing upskilling
programme to develop
mix of soft, technicaland digital skills

Collaborating withacademic andgovernment institutions
on skills of the future

7 | Talent trends 2020

This was where things stood before the
COVID-19 crisis. Today, businesses still face
the challenge of matching skills with gaps.
The skills that were hard to find before won’t
be much easier to find now. Finding people
with the right skills and the right cultural fit
will be even harder.

Organisations that do make the vital
investments in their upskilling journey will
have a receptive audience.2 Employees
were already motivated to take action to
evolve their skills and remain relevant andemployable in the digital workplace: ina separate survey, we asked more than
22,000 people around the world whether
they would be willing to upskill in order tobecome more employable, and 77% said
they would.3

2	PwC, Our status with tech at work: It’s complicated, 2018, https://www.pwc.com/us/en/services/consulting/library/images/PwC_CIS-Tech-at-Work.pdf
3 PwC, PwC, Hopes and Fears Survey, 2019, https://www.pwc.com/gx/en/issues/upskilling.html

77%of the 22,000 people that we surveyed said
they would be willing to upskill in order tobecome more employable8 | Talent trends 2020

Progress on
upskilling can
breed confidence

9 | Talent trends 2020

When CEOs took the survey in September
and October 2019, before the COVID-19
pandemic, there was already a sharp risein pessimism about growth.4 But there wasalso a clear correlation between progress on
upskilling and the level of confidence that
CEOs reported.
CEOs of more advanced upskillingorganisations were more optimistic about
global economic growth — 34% expecting
improvement versus 15% of CEOs justbeginning their upskilling journey. These
CEOs also had more confidence in theirown revenue growth, with 38% “veryconfident” versus 20% of beginners (seeExhibit 2).
This may suggest that taking steps toupskill helps organisations build confidence
because it shows a clear, practical courseof action in an increasingly uncertain world.
Additionally, employers who make goodfaith efforts to upskill their employees build
trust — and that in turn can enhance theorganisation’s reputation in a world where
trust is an increasingly valuable commodity.

4	PwC, 23rd Annual Global CEO Survey, Jan. 2020,
https://www.pwc.com/gx/en/ceo-agenda/ceosurvey/2020.html

Exhibit 2

Question:
How confident are you about
your organisation’s prospects
for revenue growth over the next
12 months?

Upskilling can breed confidencen Not confident at all n Not very confident n Somewhat confident n Very confident

More advanced upskillingorganisations*

3%

17%

43%

38%

Global

5%

22%

45%

27%

Beginning upskillingorganisations**

6%

27%

46%

Source: PwC, 23rd Annual Global CEO Survey* “More advanced upskilling organisations” refers to the top quartile of CEOs regionally who have reported the most progress in upskilling** “Beginning upskilling organisations” refers to the bottom quartile of CEOs regionally who have reported the least progress in upskilling
Note: Not all figures add up to 100% as a result of rounding percentages and excluding “neither/nor” and “don’t know” responses
Note: Upskilling relates to an organisation’s clear intent to develop its employees’ capabilities and employability, and to advance and progress their technical, soft and digital skills
Base: Global, “beginning” and “more advanced” upskilling organisations (Global=1,581; beginning organisations=411; more advanced organisations=353)

20%

10 | Talent trends 2020

Upskilling delivers
more than skills

11 | Talent trends 2020

We can draw two main lessons from thesurvey results: first, that the full benefits of
upskilling programmes take time to emerge;and second, that the benefits (at earlier
stages, at least) are complementary to fillingthe skills gap.
It’s the positive organisational impactthat emerges first. Twice as many CEOs
(41%) said that their programme has been“very effective” in creating a stronger
corporate culture and improving employee
engagement, than have benefitted fromreducing the skills gap; and that rises to
60% for CEOs who had invested moresignificantly in their upskilling programme.
Only one in five CEOs said their own
upskilling programme has been “veryeffective” in addressing the skills gap so
far, but among companies with moreadvanced programmes, that share rises
to 35% (see Exhibit 3).

Exhibit 3

Upskilling programmes deliver more than skills.
Those that are most advanced have even greater gains

Question:
How effective are your upskilling
programmes in achieving thefollowing outcomes? (Showing
only “very effective.”)n Beginning upskilling organisations* n Global n More advanced upskilling organisations**

60%

51%
45%

43%

41%

37%

35%

30%

30%

28%

26%
23%

20%
17%

15%

14%

15%
10%

20%

of CEOs said their upskilling programme is
reducing skills gaps and mismatches.

Stronger corporate
culture and employee
engagement

Higher workforce
productivity

Greater businessgrowthImproved talentacquisition andretention

Greater innovation
and accelerated
digital transformation

Source: PwC, 23rd Annual Global CEO Survey* “Beginning upskilling organisations” refers to the bottom quartile of CEOs regionally who have reported the least progress in upskilling** “More advanced upskilling organisations” refers to the top quartile of CEOs regionally who have reported the most progress in upskilling
Note: Upskilling relates to an organisation’s clear intent to develop its employees’ capabilities and employability, and to advance and progress their technical, soft and digital skills
Base: Global, “beginning” and “more advanced” upskilling organisations (Global=1,581; beginning organisations=411; more advanced organisations=353)

Reducing skills gaps
and mismatches

12 | Talent trends 2020

When we analyse these results according
to the maturity of upskilling programmes,
it becomes clear that the benefits improveover time. Organisations that had madethe most progress on upskilling reported
stronger returns across the board thanthose at the beginning of the journey.
CEOs also reported a range of benefits
beyond developing skills: 30% said it
had been very effective in improving
productivity, 30% said it had accelerated
digital transformation, and 28% said it
helped improve talent acquisition and41%

retention. Once again, companies thatare more advanced report higher gains;those that continue with upskilling will likely
see more.
As organisations emerge from the
COVID-19 crisis and its economic impacts,
the benefits seen from well-constructed andwell-implemented upskilling programmes
will be an important tool in building
confidence, agility and competitive
advantage.

said that their programme has been “very effective” in creating astronger corporate culture and improving employee engagement.

13 | Talent trends 2020

More talk thanaction14 | Talent trends 2020

Exhibit 4

The more investment inupskilling, the higher thefear about talent retention

n Beginning upskilling organisations* n More advanced upskilling organisations**

18%

16%

16%
15%
14%

Question:
Please rank the three greatest challenges yourorganisation currently faces in its upskilling efforts.
(showing percentage ranked first)

14%

12%

9%

12%

10%

9%

10%

10%
8%

7%

5%

5%

2%

Motivating or
A lack of resources
Ability ofDefining the skills
incentivising
to conduct
employees to learn we should build
employees
the upskilling
new skills needed
to learn and apply programmes wefor the future
their learning
need

Retaining
employees
who have been
upskilled

Disruption of
day-to-day
business
activities

Measuring
the businessoutcomesof our upskilling
programmes

Source: PwC, 23rd Annual Global CEO Survey
1 “Beginning upskilling organisations” refers to the bottom quartile of CEOs regionally who have reported the least progress in upskilling
2 “More advanced upskilling organisations” refers to the top quartile of CEOs regionally who have reported the most progress in upskilling
Note: Upskilling relates to an organisation’s clear intent to develop its employees’ capabilities and employability, and to advance and progress their technical, soft and digital skills
Base: “Beginning” and “more advanced” upskilling organisations (beginning=411; more advanced=353)

The effectivenessof our learningand development
function

Quality of
external parties
who conduct
relevant upskilling
programmes

15 | Talent trends 2020

In the previous CEO Survey, launched
in January 2019, close to half of the
respondents said they favoured upskilling
their own workforce to fill the skills gap.
But 12 months later, only 18% said they
had made significant progress. When we
asked CEOs to rank what they saw astheir most pressing challenge in delivering
an upskilling programme, the range of
responses from different industries might
help explain what is holding them back.
We can divide these into the following four
themes.

1. Holding on to upskilled talent
There was palpable concern among CEOsin this year’s survey that they could invest asubstantial amount in upskilling only to see
valuable employees leave. Overall, 14% ofCEOs said this was their biggest challenge,
but it was the number one challenge for
19% of CEOs in the sectors of tech, media
and telecoms; industrial manufacturing;
and automotive.

An organisation’s stated purpose must be
more than lip service; a strong commitment
to its workforce and to upskilling —particularly now — can reinforce this.
Keeping hold of workers with key skills
and helping them build, apply and leverage
those skills to help businesses remain afloat
will be key — but it is only one element of
the employee experience. The truth is that
if CEOs are worried that their staff will bein demand from competitors, that’s a sureindication that their upskilling programme isa success.
What may be missing is a plan to makethe best use of employees who have been
upskilled so they can see the value of their
new learning and are incentivised to put it
to good use helping their own organisation
weather the economic impact of COVID-19.

16 | Talent trends 2020

2. What skills to teachDefining exactly which skills an organisation
will need in the future was already proving
to be a significant challenge for CEOsin those sectors predicted to be mostdisrupted by digital technology, including
financial services and healthcare, where
16% named it as their biggest challenge(compared with 12% of all respondents).
Given the changes forced on businesses
by COVID-19, CEOs are seeing in real time
both the challenges and possibilities ofmoving to more digital and virtual models.

As Carol Stubbings, Joint Global Leader of
PwC’s People and Organisation practice,puts it, it’s about creating a culture ofadaptability: people need to learn how tothink, act and thrive in a digital world thatis much less predictable than we once
thought. “Companies need to invest in theirpeople. That’s how many companies willsurvive this crisis and become stronger. It’s
about people, not about jobs — because
jobs will change or have already changed asorganisations adapt to the situation we’rein and focus, in an agile way, on businessoutcomes,” says Stubbings.

The skills organisations need today— creativity, problem solving, an
understanding of how digital technology
can be used — and in the future are amoving target. Planning for the short term
used to be relatively easy, but the rapidly
evolving landscape makes predictions
more precarious.

Organisations need to build transferable,‘no regrets’ skills that prepare people nomatter the change.5 They used to be calledsoft skills, though in today’s world they canhave a harder edge when they’re combinedwith digital skills, like the ability to createbots from off-the-shelf software that canperform repetitive, time-consuming tasks.

5 Bhushan Sethi and Carol Stubbings, “Good work,” strategy+business, Feb. 18, https://www.strategy-business.com/feature/Good-Work

Companies need to invest in
their people. That’s how many
companies will survive this crisisand become stronger.
Carol Stubbings
Joint Global Leader of PwC’s People andOrganisation practice17 | Talent trends 2020

For some organisations, surviving theimpact of COVID-19 will require redeploying
workers to critical roles. Rapidly reskillingand supporting workers to take on different
roles — ones which they’ve never been
trained for in many instances — will be thedifference between success and failure.
Organisations and their leaders can’t afford
to wait for a clarity that may never be fully
realised about what the jobs of the future
will look like. The greater confidence levels
seen in organisations with more mature
upskilling programmes in place, combinedwith their CEOs’ belief that upskilling has
increased productivity and generated
growth, is a clear sign that upskilling canhelp create a competitive advantage.
This is the very thing that organisations
will need as we start to emerge from theimpacts of COVID-19.

3. Motivation and inspiration
Upskilling and culture are closelyintertwined in a symbiotic relationship.
Upskilling contributes to a better employee
experience, and that brings real benefits —a 2017 MIT study showed that companies
that provide a great employee experienceare 25% more profitable than those that
don’t.6
But the message has to come from the top.
A clear narrative from senior leaders about
the organisation’s plans helps to address
the fear of the future, which can be a major
drain on productivity and engagement.
We know most people are willing and readyto learn new skills — in fact, they’re readyto entirely retrain — in order to improvetheir future employability, but our researchshows that only one in three feel thatthey have been given the opportunity by
their employer to develop the digital andtransferable skills they need.7

Bosses also have to invest in their own
upskilling. If leaders commit to upskill
themselves, it will give them a better
understanding of the benefits — alongwith the time, energy and commitment ittakes. All of which will be under pressure
as organisations grapple with the effects
of COVID-19.

6	Kristine Dery and Ina Sebastian, “Building Business Value with Employee Experience,” MIT Center for Information Systems Research, June 15, 2017, https://cisr.mit.edu/publication/2017_0601_EmployeeExperience_DerySebastian
7 PwC, Hopes and Fears Survey, 2019, https://www.pwc.com/gx/en/issues/upskilling.html

18 | Talent trends 2020

4. Paying for it
Having sufficient financial resources todeliver effective upskilling programmes isa concern, not least at a time of economiccrisis. Even before COVID-19, CEOs ingovernment and public services cited thisas their biggest challenge — not surprising,in an era of public-sector belt-tightening.
But it was also true of industrial
manufacturing leaders, which might explain
why manufacturing CEOs had madeless progress in their upskilling journeythan CEOs in other sectors, and in turnwere seeing less-effective outcomes.
Manufacturing jobs were already most
likely to be at risk from automation, butwhat’s also true is that having people withthe right skills working alongside newtechnology will become all the more criticalfor organisations to remain competitive.8

There are varying estimates of what it
costs to upskill staff. The World Economic
Forum has estimated that in the US, thecost of upskilling is about US$24,000 per
employee.9 There is no simple calculation.
But the fact remains, upskilling should still
be seen as a strategic priority alongsidetechnology investments because thetwo go hand in hand: the innovation andproductivity expected from the latter
will only happen if the right skilled andmotivated workforce is in place to exploit
the technology.
Yet much of what organisations have been
spending to train their employees has notbeen working, according to research: theneed to make any investment effective is
now even more pressing.10

8 PwC, “Pulse on robotics,” CEO Pulse, https://www.pwc.com/gx/en/ceo-agenda/pulse/robotics.html
9	Briony Harris, “Who should pay for the workers to be reskilled,” World Economic Forum, Jan. 22, 2019, https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2019/01/whoshould-pay-for-workers-to-be-reskilled-1
10	Carol Stubbings, Darren Homer, and John Francis, “Thawing the frozen middle,” strategy+business, Nov. 29, 2019, https://www.strategy-business.com/
article/Thawing-the-frozen-middle

19 | Talent trends 2020

Recommendations

Set a clear direction
and lead from thefront

Leaders need a strong and credible narrative that explains
their strategy and future vision — including the objectives
for investing in their upskilling programmes. And they need
to be seen to be part of the upskilling journey themselves:
walking the talk.
Staying the course is easy in a growing economy, but when
faced with an economic downturn and squeezed profits,
cutting all upskilling investment may send the wrong
message and harm future competitiveness.

Identify yourpriority skills andskills gaps

This may be one of the hardest exercises because as
we’ve seen from the CEO Survey results, leaders are
struggling to know what skills they need now and in the
future. At PwC, we have a five-step plan for upskilling thatstarts with analysing the transferable skills that work today
and in the future.11 We analyse the changing businessenvironment to identify the scope for digital working andautomation in current roles. We look at the future workforce
needs and the current workforce capabilities, and we seek
to clarify the cultural and behavioural challenges. This helps
organisations determine their most pressing skills gaps andmismatches, the populations of employees whose roles
will become redundant and the key challenges to upskill
their organisation. It’s an important move in building thecase for change.

11 PwC, “Upskill my workforce for the digital world,” https://www.pwc.com/gx/en/services/people-organisation/upskill-my-workforce-for-the-digital-world.html

20 | Talent trends 2020

Upskilling andreskilling are both
vitally important

Businesses will need their people to have the right skills to be able tofully contribute to their companies’ success. In the long term, upskilling
will raise employees’ productivity as digital transformations progressand more people find themselves working alongside machines — bothin factories and in the services industries — as automation takes overrepetitive tasks. In the short term, reskilling will be necessary to allow
people to operate in the new roles that are created by the COVID-19
crisis. For example, in financial services there’s a reduced need for thepeople-facing role of cashier, but people who perform that task can betrained to offer remote customer service.

Build on yourcultural foundations

Employees will only learn new skills if your culture and your upskilling
programmes are aligned. Our ‘New world. New skills.’ initiative has an
employee-led component, because in our experience allowing people toidentify the skills they need to be more productive and successful andgiving them the space to learn are by far the most effective approaches.
At PwC, an important element of our culture is rapidly forming multidisciplinary teams and building innovative solutions for our clientsin bursts of problem solving, creativity and innovation. Our digitalupskilling programme builds on this cultural trait and uses it to power
up our people’s learning by letting them ‘opt in’ to build new skills andimprove existing ones, and apply what they’ve learned directly to real-life
problems. Incentives to participate and gamification principles have been
embedded in the programme: this approach closely matches the cultureof our firm and explains the enthusiastic take-up by staff.12

12 PwC, “Upskilling 2.0: business-powered; people-powered; results-driven,” https://www.pwc.com/us/en/about-us/workforce-strategy.html

21 | Talent trends 2020

Provide time,energy andmotivation to learn

Providing for well-being creates trust and supports the hard work oflearning. This is vitally important now as so many people are working
from home, isolated from their usual daily routines. When restrictions on
movement are lifted and people start returning to workplaces, it will be
imperative that leaders and managers understand that employees need
the space to decelerate, reflect and learn from peers.
Businesses need to create a compelling people experience to enhancelearning in a world where technology and changing expectations are
redefining what working means for everyone. That will require refocussing
learning to become something intrinsic to the day job, not on top of it.
In our own business, it was important to deliver on programmes tosupport well-being and work–life balance before we rolled out our digitalupskilling programmes. We knew it would be vital for our people to know
we were supporting them through the journey. Engaged workers embraceupskilling and deliver higher levels of productivity.13

Track and measure
results

Upskilling takes considerable time and money and is potentially disruptive
to day-to-day business (almost one in ten CEOs said this was the top
concern for them). That’s why ensuring return on investment (ROI) is
critical. Buy-in from the leadership and engagement within the workforce
will quickly fall away if there is no clear evidence of benefits.
Success can be measured in terms of financial results, customer
satisfaction, employee retention and talent attraction. It can also bemeasured for its societal impact: your company will be seen as playing its
part in preparing people to thrive in the future.

13 PwC, 2019, “Secure your future people experience,” https://www.pwc.com/gx/en/people-organisation/pdf/secure-your-future-people-experience-pwc.pdf

22 | Talent trends 2020

Time to take action
Talent is a perennial issue for CEOs, particularly when the economy
is growing. This year, before COVID-19 spread, three-quarters ofCEOs said they were concerned about whether they would havethe talent they needed. The competition for talent is unlikely toabate and it is vital for leaders to focus on developing skills.
At the moment there are immediate issues that need to beaddressed: workforce safety and well-being must be the top priority
for businesses, along with managing costs. In many industries,
people may need to be reskilled and redeployed and some will face
the anxiety of being furloughed or being made redundant. These arechallenging times for CEOs and their people.
Those companies that have started the digital-upskilling journey
will find themselves in a better position to benefit from growth whenthe economic climate improves because they will have a workforce
that is ready. CEOs who have already taken action to upskill
their people are seeing the advantages. That sends a pretty clear
message to those still on the fence.

First, you have to create a culture of learning.
Investing in people and helping them continuallydevelop their skills, that should be embedded
in a company’s culture. That doesn’t just mean
training people in what the company decides isimportant to them. At least a portion of the learning
agenda should be based on what the individual
chooses to learn about. The role of the company
is to continually challenge and develop its people,
starting at the top. In fact, I think the company has
an obligation to do so.
Jim Keane
CEO of Steelcase, US

23 | Talent trends 2020

About PwC’s
23rd Annual
Global CEO
SurveyPwC surveyed 3,501 CEOs in 83 territories
in September and October 2019. The
sample of 1,581 CEOs used for the global
and regional figures in this report are
weighted by national GDP to ensure that
CEOs’ views are fairly represented acrossall major regions. Further details by region
and industry are available on request.
Seven percent of the interviews wereconducted by telephone, 88% online,
and 5% by post or face-to-face. All
quantitative interviews were conducted
on a confidential basis.
Of the 1,581 CEOs whose responses wereused for the global and regional figures:•	46% of their organisations had revenuesof US$1bn or more

Notes:• 	Not all figures add up to 100% as a resultof rounding percentages and excluding‘neither/nor’ and ‘don’t know’ responses
from exhibits.
• 	The base for global figures is 1,581(global respondents) unless otherwise
stated.
We also conducted in-depth, face-to-faceinterviews with CEOs from six regions.
Some of these interviews are quoted in thisreport, and more extensive transcripts canbe found on our website at https://www.
strategy-business.com/inside-the-mind-ofthe-ceo.

•	35% of their organisations had revenues
between US$100m and US$1bn

The research was undertaken by PwC
Research, our global centre of excellence
for primary research and evidence-based
consulting services.

•	15% of their organisations had revenuesof up to US$100m

https://www.pwc.co.uk/pwcresearch•	55% of their organisations were privately
owned.

24 | Talent trends 2020

PwC’s ‘New world. New skills.’
programme‘New world. New skills.’ is PwC’s global programme to help millions of people aroundthe world improve their understanding, skills and knowledge for the digital world.
Business has an important role to play in ensuring no one gets left behind unwillingly.
There’s an urgent need for organisations, governments, educators and citizens to cometogether to address this growing problem.
We’ll be convening discussions and working with a broad group of stakeholders to help
find solutions that work in each country. We’re helping organisations in the public andprivate sectors to anticipate the skills they will need in the future, and work together oncomprehensive solutions.
Over the next four years, we will be training our people in technologies for supportingclients, communities and other stakeholders across our territories. We also will bedirecting more of our community initiatives to focus on upskilling.
Find out more at www.pwc.com/upskilling.

25 | Talent trends 2020

Contacts
Carol Stubbings
Joint Global Leader, People andOrganisation
Partner, PwC UK
carol.a.stubbings@pwc.com
Bhushan Sethi
Joint Global Leader, People andOrganisation
Principal, PwC US
bhushan.sethi@pwc.com
Justine Brown
Workforce of the Future research
programme
Director, PwC UK
justine.brown@pwc.com

North America

Western Europe

Central and Eastern Europe

China

Orla Beggs
PwC US
orla.beggs@pwc.com

Pierre-Antoine Balu
PwC France
pierre-antoine.balu@pwc.com

Alla Romanchuk
PwC Russia
alla.romanchuk@pwc.com

Johnny Yu
PwC China
johnny.yu@cn.pwc.com

Carrie Duarte
PwC US
carrie.duarte@pwc.com

Christopher Box
PwC UK
christopher.box@pwc.com

Middle East

Japan

Jean McClellan
PwC Canada
jean.a.mcclellan@pwc.com

Peter Brown
PwC UK
peter.c.brown@pwc.com

David Suarez
PwC UAE
david.suarez@pwc.com

Ryosuke Sasaki
PwC Japan
ryosuke.sasaki@pwc.com

AfricaSoutheast Asia

Barry Vorster
PwC South Africa
barry.vorster@pwc.com

Martijn Schouten
PwC Singapore
martijn.schouten@pwc.com

India

Australia

Chaitali Mukherjee
PwC India
chaitali.mukherjee@pwc.com

Peter Wheeler
PwC Australia
peter.wheeler@pwc.com

South and Central America
Camila Cinquetti
PwC Brazil
camila.cinquetti@pwc.com

Henk van Cappelle
PwC Netherlands
henk.van.cappelle@pwc.com
Till Lohmann
PwC Germany
till.r.lohmann@pwc.com
Victoria Robinson
PwC UK
victoria.x.robinson@pwc.com
Christian Scharff
PwC Luxembourg
christian.scharff@pwc.com
Alastair Woods
PwC UK
alastair.woods@pwc.com

Talent trends 2020
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