Company: PwC
Date: 2019-05-30
Overall rating: 2/5
Employment status: current
Experience level: Junior

Good for the brand, hit and miss with the people, awful with the systems
Pros: 1. Large / big name clients. It’s nice to be able to actually recognise client names as it feels more “real” to do work with them. 

2. Varied experience. It’s such a big place you can work on so many different projects, clients, teams it’s hard to stay doing the same thing every day unless you actively try to!

3. Top specialists in their field(s). Lots of smart people crammed together in one place means people have gained lots of experience and if you get along well with them, you’ll probably learn a lot too. 
 
4. Internal people networks are supportive. There’s a fair few special interest / people groups and if you associate with them you can make some great connections / friends beyond your own team. 

5. Fancy offices from the outside (but the office interiors are really poorly laid out!). 

6. Work life balance is okay in some teams but this is rare. People try to accept flexible working but it’s not quite there yet. You won’t be doing the latest of nights in Tax compare to other industries / divisions, but you will consistently be working beyond your contracted working hours, around an extra hour or two of overtime every day with the odd late (23:00 +) night (and it’s very difficult to get any overtime pay).
Cons: INFRASTRUCTURE:
1. Opaque progression pathways. People with the same grade / background are treated completely differently for progression and promotion and this is reflected in the lack of knowledge new promotes have of actually how they were promoted! Have been told that formal requirements for promotion need to be supported by cosying up to senior management as well (in some, but not all teams) - basically it’s still an old boys’ club, at least for now. 

2. Awful internal technology. Internal software is either internally developed and outdated / not fit for purpose or is purchased externally, but then poorly implemented (e.g. internal technology champions are poorly supported / trained). Almost all employees complain about internal technology constantly but these grievances are rarely acted upon and when they are, management make ill-informed procurement decisions (e.g. choosing technology for the "wow factor" rather than functionality / usability for employees), where the technology is then forced upon users with little support. Extremely disappointing for a Big Four firm.

3. Poorly remunerated for equivalent grades at other Big Four firms. It really makes you wonder why people stay as well - probably the brand.

4. Vague / difficult to follow policies and insensitive internal operations staff. There’s a mass of internal policies and processes that are constantly changing and completely spread out across far too many systems. 
It’s often a case that you have to fight HR / internal policy teams to get things done or convince them your problem is real - the default position is that you are wrong / a time waster. 

Examples of internal operations issues: being paid the wrong amounts after a promotion and having to prove to HR that you’re entitled to the pay rise, expense policies in different systems that conflict with one another, offshore expense reviewers incorrectly rejecting expenses where you included detailed references to the expenses policy clauses, conflicting information in personal independence policies. 

Basically, you are expected to be the one to show them their policies after digging through all the internal and sometimes conflicting systems (see 2 above) or else they won’t budge!

CULTURE:
5. Grievances not actioned. Grievances are always acknowledged but rarely followed up on. There is a general culture of "suck it up [to aim for partner] or leave" - there is not much of a middle ground encouraged and many people do leave when they find out not much seems to change, especially when it’s a people issue. 

6. Leadership are distant. Leadership are rarely around "on team" and so team issues are often left to middle management who are often too busy or unwilling to deal with any people issues and this has contributed to many people leaving / low morale. Large procurement decisions are made with minimal consultation, which is also acknowledged then ignored e.g. “I see your point, but we’re doing this anyway” (see also point 2, technology).

7. Siloed working culture. Many teams are not willing to work together (e.g. pool resources, share experience) and it often means inefficient working and/or lower quality work and it’s really frustrating to be told by higher ups that you shouldn’t call in the specialist(s).

8. Extreme favouritism. Despite internal initiatives to ensure people are allocated work fairly, this is not the case in practice, with many people choosing their favourites which can be demoralising to those with less specific experience or those who have transferred from other teams.