PwC’s HK Office To Adopt Activity-Based Working
HONG KONG – PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) China plans to implement a new kind of working practice and its office in Hong Kong will be among its pilot areas, reported efinancialcareers on Thursday afternoon (11 November, SGT).
PwC China and Hong Kong’s Chief People Officer Ewan Clarkson told the news outlet that they intend to reconfigure and redesign their workspace in the Chinese territory to leverage on the concept of Activity-Based Working (ABW). Essentially, it means employees perform their role in designated areas that are suited to the requirements of their work.
“We want to be more deliberate and intentional about the role of the office, so to ensure that it is digital yet human-centric, serving as a hub for us to be collaborative, productive, and creative. We will work continuously with our clients proactively to develop workplace solutions that best enable our people to deliver quality work remotely and reliably.”
“We know that the office is here to stay, but its role will change. Whether it be hot-desking for flexible use, open areas for collaboration, smart meeting rooms for conferencing, or quiet rooms for focused work.”
The plans are in line with PwC’s announcement that it intends to invest S$1.25 billion to increase its manpower in China and its territories by 2-fold in the next 5 years that will generate about 20,000 jobs.
In particular, PwC’s investment will focus on five key strategic areas, namely digital redesign, digital products and solutions, workforce of the future, and environmental social and governance (ESG) regional economic clusters. The company intends to hire staff in ESG and digital transformation, as well as mergers and acquisitions (M&A), in addition to strengthening its regional delivery centres.
The company, which is part of the Big 4 accounting firms, also plans to construct smart offices in Hong Kong, Shanghai, and Beijing as it aligns its strategy with Beijing’s 5-year plan that aims to expedite green development and transform China into a digital nation.
PricewaterhouseCoopers’s China plan, which was announced this week, is part of the Big Four’s ‘New Equation’, an initiative unveiled this summer that aims to generate 100,000 jobs across the world.
At present, PwC has about 800 partners and 20,000 employees across Hong Kong, Macau, and mainland China. By doubling its manpower in these locations, it will surpass its headcount in other countries such as the United Kingdom, where it has 22,000 staff. However, the company didn’t reveal how many employees it plans to hire in each location in China and its territories.
