Company: PwC
Date: 2008-07-22
Overall rating: 1/5
Employment status: former

Career growth in the short-term
Pros: Working for PwC promises challenging assignments; exposure to cutting edge issues; well-qualified colleagues, particularly in the audit practice; and an experience subsequent employers will recognize and value.
Cons: There is limited career mentoring, and no attempt at work-life balance. Lack of transparency in communications from mid-level and senior leadership is pervasive, particularly when the firm may be experiencing difficulty in meeting its business and financial goals and staff layoffs are occurring.  Entrepreneurship is discouraged by a rigid, compliance-driven culture. The firm's business plan is continuously shifting with few long-term goals, leading to periodic purges of staff, particularly on the Advisory side of the firm. While the virtues of collegiality are extolled, they are not consistently practiced. There is intense competition for revenue between practice groups, sometimes on a single project. This does not always lead to the best outcome for the client and sometimes creates risk management issues when the individuals with the best skill sets are not deployed. There is little tolerance for, or understanding of staff who come out of industry and whose skill sets are not IT- or audit-related.  These individuals are not easily integrated into the firm and generally have a difficult and short career there.