21st Century Solutions for Today's Working Families

On Monday, I attended a remarkable forum on the American workforce in the 21st century chaired by Valerie Jarrett, senior advisor to President Obama. The event was part of the lead-up to the White House Summit on Working Families next month. Giving our people the flexibility to pursue their careers and focus on their personal priorities is something we think about a great deal at PwC. It’s a challenging issue because flexibility means something different to each of us. This is not a problem that can be solved solely by government, business or communities, but rather requires outside-the-box thinking and bold steps by all involved.

The business community only stands to gain from investing in 21st-century solutions for America’s workforce. This goes beyond good corporate citizenship. Policies and practices that increase flexibility lead to increased employee engagement, which in turn leads to higher productivity and improved employee retention. Finding top talent with the skills to help solve companies’ most complex problems has become increasingly challenging for organizations like PwC, and businesses simply cannot afford to lose great people because they fail to address their needs for flexibility.

We have done our homework: our NextGen Study examined the priorities of the Millennial Generation (born between 1980-1995), which will comprise almost 80% of PwC’s workforce by 2016. Approximately two thirds of our Millennial staff would like to occasionally work from home and to shift their hours. Among both Millennial and non-Millennial staff, 15% of the men and 21% of the women say they would trade some of their pay and slow the pace of promotion for fewer working hours.

Given the importance of Millennials to our business model—the average age of PwC’s workforce is 29—we knew we had to come up with solutions to meet their needs. But these needs vary greatly among individuals and even differ for the same individual over time. As Susan, a partner in our New Jersey office, observed recently, flexibility at PwC has gone from “being an initiative to a way of life.” The impact of flexibility on Susan’s career has ranged from providing her the opportunity to move to a new practice group after 25 years to working remotely while travelling frequently to Texas to visit her mother for six months while she was ill. PwC’s culture of flexibility includes a basket of policies, programs and benefits that individuals can draw from as the need arises. It’s important to keep in mind that flexibility is not necessarily about working less; it’s about working differently.

As a professional services firm, our people are our greatest asset and creating an environment in which talented women with families do not feel forced to make an all-or-nothing choice between their children and their careers is a top priority. For example, our Full Circle program allows PwC staff to take up to five years off from the firm, with a guaranteed position when they decide to return. One staff member, Alison, recently rejoined the firm as a tax director in our Tampa office after spending four years at home with her two boys as a full-time, stay-at-home mom. During her time off, Alison stayed in touch with the firm. A partner called her a couple times a year to see if she was ready to return, and the firm helped Alison stay connected to her network and developments in her field by inviting her to an annual conference and other training events. Now back at the firm, Alison works a reduced schedule that allows her to provide high-caliber client service, while still meeting her personal goals.

Although we are proud of the many benefits we offer working mothers, we are always looking for fresh thinking. For example, our new partner, Strategy&, recently adopted a global policy allowing staff members to forgo travel during the first six months after returning from maternity leave. The hope is that this change will result in more women returning to the workplace after maternity leave, and it’s the kind of innovative thinking that is critical for businesses to remain competitive.

Working fathers also need our support. PwC provides three weeks of leave for non-primary care parents anytime during the first year of their child’s life. We devised this policy based on research showing that men prefer the option of taking their leave at different points during the year, in contrast to women who prefer an uninterrupted leave. Rohan, a PwC Director, said the two weeks of paternity leave he took following the birth of his first child laid the groundwork for a strong father-mother team going forward. He plans to take the final week off this summer to be with his baby. As Rohan explained, his colleagues “made it possible for me to be successful in taking the time off. They shared/did my work.” Far from begrudging Rohan his time at home, partners and team members showered him with congratulations and fatherhood advice. Meeting individual flexibility needs becomes easier when flexibility is treated as a team sport and Rohan recently called his colleagues his “extended family.”

Fundamentally, flexibility means that one size need not fit all. Extensive sick leave for staff members caring for a family member enables our people to care for aging parents, twelve weeks of adoption leave facilitates the transition to parenthood for adoptive parents, and flextime and telecommuting facilitate family time and participation in philanthropy, hobbies and community events. We work hard to make these benefits and programs part of our culture, not just policies on paper that people fear will hinder their careers if pursued.

As Valerie Jarrett has pointed out, “[p]rioritizing the needs of working families, and empowering women in our workplace . . . increases productivity, boosts worker retention, and adds to the strength of our economy.” In other words, adjusting to the needs of our 21st-century workforce is crucial to 21st-century success.