Many firms now recognize the considerable costs of losing talented women. Losing experienced professionals depletes the capacity to serve clients and erodes the knowledge of the firm. Not surprisingly, professional service firms are developing policies aimed at retaining women. Daycare facilities are available at crunch times. PricewaterhouseCoopers has put considerable effort and resources into policies that provide workplace support and flexibility.
Arrangements are in place to enable part-time professionals to become partners.
Work is being reconfigured to reduce deadline-driven pressures. Human resource policies are nudging changes to the culture. These initiatives are orchestrated in Canada by a worklife council headed by chairman David W. Smith. The efforts of the Big Five are slowly paying off. Last year four of them made Working Mother's list of the Top 100 employers.