PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) is a global professional services firm operating in 150 countries. In the UK there are 15,000 partners and staff.

Rationale

PwC’s two networks for women began in 2002 to address the lack of women at senior level and combat women’s isolation as they progressed upwards. PwC believes that networking strongly contributes to personal and professional success.

The approach

PwC has two women’s networks, PwCWomen and the Female Partner and Director Network. They work closely together and have similar aims and objectives, which are:

• engagement: consulting with women to better understand their experiences of working at PwC
• education: supporting women in their learning and development
• empowering: responding to women’s experiences by providing a forum to network
• enrichment: promoting networking and visible role models.

PwCWomen runs quarterly events open to all male and female employees. Topics have included unlocking potential, the workplace of the future and working with the opposite sex. The network’s three working groups focus on:

1. commerciality – linking with clients, recruitment and development for women
2. measurement and evaluation – quantifying the influence of PwCWomen
3. roles, structure and integration – developing links with the wider firm through mentoring and networking.

The Female Partner and Director Network focuses on partners’/directors’ responsibilities as mentors and role models. Its outreach team speak on gender issues to business teams and groups of partners.

Impact

Both networks are now well-established and supported within the organisation.

"There are no quick answers but we are fully committed to doing whatever is necessary to support a greater number of women reaching the highest levels in PwC, and PwCWomen is one way this being addressed."
Moira Elms, Management Board member for Marketing and Communications

The annual staff survey YouMatter shows that women are increasingly positive about working at PwC: 82 per cent of respondents believe it is a good place to advance their careers over the next three years, and 92 per cent of female respondents said they would recommend PwC as a place to work to a friend.

Graduate Recruitment

PwC has an established graduate recruitment programme but wanted to increase numbers of female applicants. To this end it ran several events targeting female undergraduates, examining what needed to change to attract them. As a result, PwC raised its profile on campus and offered skill sessions and interview practice. It also examined the recruitment process to ensure that there was no inherent gender bias. The company’s PwCWomen network played a major role in these changes by focusing on recruitment and ways it can actively influence diversity at both graduate and experienced hire levels.

This work successfully increased the number of female graduates recruited from 302 (38%) in 2004 to 387 (40%) in 2006. PwC has been voted top graduate employer in the Times Top 100 list of graduate employers and the employer of choice for accountancy.