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One of the world’s biggest consulting and accounting firms plans to monitor its employees’ locations to ensure compliance with a stricter return-to-office policy set to take effect next year.
PricewaterhouseCoopers, known as PwC, announced that its U.K. branch is “placing more emphasis on in-person working.” It initiated a new policy that requires staff to spend at least three days a week, or 60% of their time, in the office or with clients. That’s up from the previously mandated two to three days in the office or with clients, according to the firm.
In an internal email, staffers were told that the company would be sharing their location data with them on a monthly basis, a PwC spokesperson told FOX Business.
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The logo of PricewaterhouseCoopers International (PwC) can be seen on a stele in front of the company’s Munich headquarters on August 29, 2024 in Munich (Bavaria). (Matthias Balk/picture alliance via Getty Images / Getty Images)
“The new policy tips the balance of our working week into being located alongside clients and colleagues,” PwC U.K. Managing Partner Laura Hinton said, adding that “this feels right for our business and right for our people, given our focus on client service, coaching, and learning and development.”
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The policy takes effect in January, which PwC says will give staff time to “plan for these arrangements.”
If an employee’s data shows they are “consistently breaching the policy,” PwC would first seek to understand why, a spokesperson said.
There has been a wave of companies, especially in the tech sector, that have required employees to come back to the office as the pandemic subsided.
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In 2023, Amazon, now requiring employees to be in person three days a week, warned that employees who don’t comply with its return-to-office policy could get fired. It would also jeopardize an employee’s chance of getting a promotion, according to several reports.
The PricewaterhouseCoopers International Limited logo is being displayed at its pavilion during the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain, on Feb. 28, 2024. (Joan Cros/NurPhoto via Getty Images / Getty Images)
Meta employees who weren’t fully remote were also required in 2023 to come back to the office at least three days per week.
JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon has been vocal about flaws associated with working from home. His firm, along with Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs took steps in the fall of 2022 to reduce remote work.
JPMorgan had return-to-office pushes for top trading staffers in late 2020 and for managing directors in 2023.
FOX Business’ Aislinn Murphy contributed to this report.
