PwC to monitor UK Staff locations in stricter return-to-office policy

Photo by Adam Jones on Unsplash
By Jennifer Blair

PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), one of the Big Four accounting firms (Deloitte, PwC, Ernst & Young (EY), and KPMG), has announced that it will begin monitoring the location of its UK employees effective January 1, 2025.

 

The shift comes as the company adopts a stricter hybrid working policy, requiring its partners and staff members to be in the office or at client sites for 60% of the week or at least three days (2 days previously).

 

The new policy is motivated by the company’s emphasis on the importance of face-to-face interaction given the nature of the field, benefiting its client service, coaching, learning, and development.

 

To ensure fairness and compliance, the company’s 26,000 UK employees will receive their location data monthly, yet enforcement specifics beyond reviews have not been disclosed as of yet.

 

As a market slowdown is experienced by the Big Four, PwC has warned its employees of lower bonuses and pay raises and ended its summer half-day Friday perk.

 

Employee Monitoring Adoption Scope:

  • In August 2023, Amazon required employees to be in the office at least three days a week, and by July 2024, it began tracking swipes and daily hours spent on-site.
  • Salesforce donated $10 to charity for each day employees were in the office from June 12 to 23, 2024. Requiring 65% of its staff to work in the office, the company also announced the tracking of badge swipes daily, but not their duration.
  • Dell, and Amazon have made remote employees ineligible for promotions.
  • Among the Big Four, EY started tracking UK employees’ office attendance using swipe card data in 2024 and KPMG adopted a hybrid model, while Deloitte opted not to implement a return-to-office policy.

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