“Neil” down or get taken down. Seems the good news machine at PWC continues spreading propoganda with last week a new entry to the calendar - an internal firm services town hall. these are the poor IT and Operations schleps who are at the beck and call of partners and the oddly named Chief Costs Officer “Neil” Wilson. In an effort to encourage morale Neils summonsed all 500 staff to a dark 3 star hotel ballroom for a 2 hour workshop; what staff were faced with was news that decisions on job offshoring to India would be made before christmas, some bad jokes and attempts at reaching the people and in what one person said was insulting a reference to the fact that even broom sweepers at NASA were as respected as a PwC foot soldier!!!!!!!

 Staff left confused and offended that the HR whizz kid thought this was a good idea… and only made things worse. The CCO is also behind cost cutting on the biscuits and other initiatives designed presumably that people will resign before they get retrenched. We are also informed that the CCO is a keen firmspy reader and is often seen looking at our website and enjoying the honest views of staff.

Three stars? Was there some share-room action too? It is nice to have someone to whom we can address our hostilities regarding the objectionable procession of PWC cost cuts witnessed in recent times. Brace yourself Neil!

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Thanks to the anonymous PWC spy who sent us the following, bunk-bed share-room PWC partner info:

lets make sharing more caring!

To sum things up at PwC the whole firm is a mess. The culture and mood is so bad people are walking out before they are pushed out. The partners have their conference next week where for the first time ever they have to share rooms, get a coach to the Melbourne venue and heaven forbid fly economy to Melbourne. In the words of the firm ‘Partners’ Conference gears up to embed Market Growth Strategy The Australasian Partners’ Conference 2009 will be held from 23-25 November. This will bring all PwC partners together in Melbourne for the partnership’s traditionally biennial forum, allowing them to reconnect and welcome new partners. The conference will enable our 454 partners and executive directors to explore key elements of the firm’s strategy and its execution, and how we collaborate to provide a richer experience for our clients and our people. ’

With the upcoming outsourcing of finance to India, the restructuring mess of other internal groups such as business development and the IT group (this group was split in 2 with one half looking like it is being sold off) as well as big offers of sign on bonuses from other institutions for the achievers and talented staff the firm is truly a mess. Why would anyone stay? The firm takes, takes, takes and fails on every occasion to look after the staff.

Yes - heaven forbid an economy flight and a share room! Will boys be sharing with girls? Let’s hope this doesn’t give rise to more claims against PWC partners of sexual harassment and discrimination, victimisation and bullying.

Is anyone up for a game of twister?

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PwC to restructure AGAIN! So the rumours are running rampant aroudnd the office that we are once again going to have an internal “review / restructure/redundancy”. For some departments that would mean the 3rd in he past 12 months. How is anyone expected to be productive if the moment you start to understand what it is you are meant to do they change it again? And what does that mean for your development? I am so sick and tired of being told they want to develop me when they a) have limited all training budgets and b) dont actually offer any courses that would develop you any way. Oh well - it might be fun - at least we’ll all get to waste any few days / eweeks / months moving offices / pods and then all the time to bitch about the new boss - perhaps i should welcome it?

Thanks to the anonymous PWC who alerted us to this link.

Yes, PwC is not giving actual Christmas cards to clients this year! Instead, the firm is directing its clients to this webpage. Forget seasons greeting, whoever made this decision needs a seasons beating!

have a very merry christmas!

The anonymous PwC spy also offered the following comments:

Sp, PWC have now taken Christmas cards off the list of expenses and now replaced them with cheaper e-cards. Am I not the only one who thinks this is just a little suggestive on a multitude of levels? The way things have been recently, “giving” certainly wouldn’t be their vocabulary either!

No, “giving” would not be in their vocabulary, however “taking away” certainly may be:

• taking away education opportunities;
• taking away chocolate buscuits;
• taking away jobs; and
• taking away salary.

Yes, this Christmas let’s give the gift of taking away!

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In response to a recent post profiling suspicious survey results suggesting PWC is a ‘top employer’, we received the following comments from an anonymous PWC spy in relation to a revised Chartered Accountancy study policy:

… There are a lot of extremely pissed of employees at PwC feeling a little bit like indentured slaves that get dictated everything. [First] a … pay cut to take ‘flexible’ leave. [Second]That there is no overtime system anymore (not that TOIL was awesome, but at least it was something). now CA. This firm just does not stop - graduates stay away and make sure you ask questions about how long your are locked in for if you want to do CA! PwC can now fire you if you fail 2 subjects. It’s all under the ‘policy’. Payraises were so bad this year that 2nd year accountants are only being paid $1k more than 1st years.

The evidence is certainly starting to mount that PWC isn’t quite the international employer of choice that graduates apparently believe it is.

Can your firm fire you if you fail too many subjects? Let the Firm Spy know first.

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Hilarious anonymous tip from a PWC spy earlier today:

So, I have been at PwC for a few years now… Melbourne Cup came around and my Big 4 friends told me of all the great parties their firms are organising, yet what do PwC do? Nothing. Every year they’ve done something for the cup, yet this year we’re sitting around twiddling our thumbs. So, while all the Partners and Managers go off to their client’s functions, us consultants and grads are left twiddling our thumbs for hours. And to add insult to injury, the managing partner sent around an email reminding us of responsible conduct at social events! Thanks for that - I don’t even get the chance to violate the code. To say everyone at the office was pissed is an understatement. I can’t wait to hear the results of the annual satisfaction survey because I’ve heard some absolutely damning responses from my colleagues going down.

You’re not alone if you find yourself querying how the hell PWC managed to come second, trailing only Google, in a study released yesterday by an outfit named “Universum” profiling the most attractive employers to students.

Yes, PWC came second! The same firm that is rumoured to have:

• earlier this week ditched office Tim-Tams;
• forewarned staff ‘start looking for a new job’;
• has made at least two, and possibly three waves of redundancies in the last year;
• gave no quarter to very generous staff; and
• apparently threatened staff with the Tree Sword of Damocles.

So who conducted this study and who did they ask?

Well, Universum states on its website that:

Universum is the global leader in employer branding…We offer services and products that help employers attract, recruit and retain ideal talent while helping talent learn about ideal employers. To do so, we work hard to maintain our No.1 position in the employer branding industry and continue to earn the loyalty of our clients…

One of those clients isn’t PricewaterhouseCoopers, is it?

The PR escapades we have already witnessed from PWC certainly give us reason to doubt whether the survey is completely arms-length.

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Following news we reported a couple of weeks ago that PwC is poised to make further job cuts, we received the following interesting tip from an anonymous PwC spy yesterday:

just the usual crap

PwC is at it again! Following a very serious meeting last week, I was told ‘now is time to start looking for another job’ along with same, tired lines that the GFC is hurting the fim on revenue, yaddayaddayadda! I have heard that I am not alone and that others have been told to ‘start looking’.

If true, it seems that PwC is taking a more cunning approach to the reduction of headcount compared with its double-wave of redundancies before and after Christmas last year. This would be an excellent way to avoid the PR fall-out accompanying sackings. But would workers be justified in having hositlity toward partners who promised them earlier in the year that if they took 3 weeks leave without pay there would be no further job losses?

Quick, let’s get our favourite PWC PR foot-soldier Sharon Bell on the phone!

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As a very early mover, it started way back  in November 2008 for PriceWaterhouseCoopers with the first wave of redundancies.

That was supplemented by a second, deeper wave of cuts occuring at PWC in late January 2009.

shouldnt PWC wait?

And now, we have received the following news tip from an anonymous PWC spy of a looming third wave of lay offs:

PricewaterhouseCoopers at it again Now looks like 35 support jobs are going. The CFO Wayne Twomey has initiated a review, with a likely outcome for the accounts payable, staff support services, and other support finance jobs going offshore to India. The word is ta-ta Consulting Services just like the American offices.

If true, this move comes as employees are still undertaking the ‘volunntary’ 1-4 week unpaid leave of absence, which, as we understood it, was a measure employed to stave off further redundacies. Shouldn’t the PWC partnership wait to see how the unpaid leaves of absence affect the bottom line before making further cuts?

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