Announcing its “most significant” investment in staff pay in over 10 years, PwC will be offering around 70% of employees a pay rise of at least 7%, with half getting a rise of 9% or more.
The wage increase will land PwC with a total increase of £120m, an addition of the £40m that had already been allocated in January. They will also be investing a further £138m in the form of bonus allocation - a £10m rise on the year before.
A competitive market
Battling with both rampant inflation and an increasingly competitive recruitment market, the Big Four firm is hoping this move will help it to remain a competitor in the fight for top talent.
To tempt in quality employees, entry-level staff will also be receiving a welcome boost to their pay-packet, with starting salaries in audit roles rising by 10% and consulting graduates getting a rise of just over 8%.
On top of this, PwC will also be looking at taking on more than 2,000 school leavers and graduates this year across the UK, with a large percentage of students reportedly joining through degree apprenticeships - an area that PwC has been expanding on in recent years.
Chairman Kevin Ellis said the company "can't ignore market pressures and want to ensure pay at every level is as competitive as possible".
"We know pay will be an increasingly important consideration given rising living costs - we want to stay competitive and continue attracting the best talent and skills from across the UK," he added.
An employee’s market
As the job market continues to heat up, all Big Four firms have begun offering staff members significant wage increases in order to remain ahead of their competition.
It was recently reported that EY and KPMG would be offering flat wage increases of £1k-£4 to staff, while Delloitte had offered employees a rise ranging from 2%-20%, depending on position.
The increases echo comments from the AccountingWEB community earlier this year, with contributors sounding the alarm on salary increases. Earlier this year, professional recruitment firm Robert Walters revealed that accounting professionals were set to have a 20% pay packet boost.
As the conversation of price increases rages on across a myriad of professions in the UK, will we see smaller firms considering a rise in an attempt to keep up?
