PricewaterhouseCoopers (most famously known as PWC) as all you must be aware is one of the “Big 4” accounting firms in the entire globe along with Deloitte, Ernst & Young(E&Y), and KPMG. For over a decade it has dedicatedly provided services in various areas like auditing, accounting, taxation, consultancy on finance, human resource consultancy, formulation of strategy as per company’s need, accounting services, and many more related services. PWC is one of the most sought-after firms for cultivating a career in the commerce field. Let us know more about that the PWC Termination Policy-Know More.
As of 2021, PWC consist of 295,000 employees across the globe based on the statistical data of 2021. Nearly 25% of the United States’ workforce is hired by PWC. By this one can get a rough idea about the mammoth size of employees that are being handled by PWC.
Why do employees leave their jobs?
Even after managing to get a dream job in a top-notch accounting firm, individuals tend to leave their existing job and shift to other firms (generally the rival firm). This is switching of firms by the employees is coined as employee turnover rate. Recently, PWC has seen a high Employee turnover ratio as compared to the past figures.
Following are the prime four reasons for an employee quitting their jobs
Monetary Reward – The first and the foremost reason for an employee quitting their jobs is low or insufficient wages or salary. Hence, grabbing this opportunity, rival firms tend to offer a job with a handsome spike in salary to acquire the best talent in their competitor’s firm.
Psychological Reason – Another ground for an increase in Employee turnover rate is lack of recognition and appraisal for employees’ achievement. As per LinkedIn, PWC has not been recognizing its employees’ efforts and talent they put in the organization.
Stagnancy – Stagnancy refers to the phase where the employee is not exposed to other areas of expertise but is forced to perform the existing task on a repeat mode. Employees fail to achieve the objective of excelling in their career and hence ultimately shift to some other firm.
Stringent Policy – Since PWC operates over 150 plus countries it demands uniformity in work. Due to this, they have laid out a set code of conduct that employees need to abide by. At the end of the day, employees are not in a position to apply creativity
What is the termination policy of PWC?
Let us first know what is a termination policy? As the name suggests, it’s a policy framed for spreading the procedure, code of conduct for terminating the contract of an employee or partner of an organization. When the employer does not renew the expired contract signed between the employer and employee it is said that the employee has been terminated.
In PwC, there is no stringent rule for the employees, it can vary from person to person and situation to situation but the Partners have to furnish a notice period as long as six months. To make the exit of the partners more troublesome, some firms are deliberating to increase the notice period to as high as one year. The reason for such a hard and fast termination policy is discussed in the next FAQ.
Why does PWC have a stiff termination policy?
With the increase in the rate of PwC partners leaving the existing firm and hoping to rival’s firm (known as attrition), PwC is leaving no stone unturned in making the termination procedure a nightmare for Partners dreaming of termination of the contract with the firm. Two of the main reasons are
Data Leakage – The worst fear of any organization is the leakage of delicate data about the company out in the market. This is the prime ground based on which stringent termination policy is being framed and a longer notice period is demanded.
Disruption – Top management often is comprised of Junior Partners and Senior Partners. When these Partners make up their minds to leave the firm it results in a huge disruption of work routine. A long notice period is to be served so that Partners have sufficient time with them to hand over the open task to responsible sub-ordinates.
Conclusion
PricewaterhouseCoopers despite being in the “Big 4”, is recently witnessing a significantly high employee turnover rate along with a high attrition level among the PwC Partners. This high level of turn can be associated with lack of recognition, not paying compensatory benefits in both monetary as well as in-kind, obstinate code of conduct, and many others.
Therefore, PwC resorts to formulate a strict termination policy to pull the leg of the Partners hoping to competitors’ firm.
We have discussed the two main reasons (i.e. Data leakage and disruption of work schedule) due to which PwC has a stern Termination Policy.
PwC may be able to push down the attrition rate of Partners with the latest alteration in its policy.
