Engaging with our stakeholders
There are a wide range of stakeholders that shape our thinking as a business, and benefit from our products and services. We engage with these stakeholders to understand their expectations and how well we’re meeting them, as well as collaborating for deeper insight and mutual benefit. We gather qualitative and quantitative input, which informs both our strategic direction and our day-to-day performance. We draw on a wide range of techniques, from simple surveys of particular stakeholder groups, to group discussions, depending on the need and objectives. And, where appropriate, we’ve established indicators to measure the coverage and quality of our engagement, and we report back to the relevant stakeholders on the results and actions we take. Our materiality matrix is another example of how we periodically engage with different stakeholder groups, and detailed case studies are highlighted each year in our Annual Report and Integrated Reporting hub.
Our stakeholders
- Alumni
- Clients
- Employees and partners
- Investment community
- Local communities
- Media
- Policymakers
- Regulators
- Students
- Suppliers
Alumni
(e.g. former employees and partners)
Why we engage
- To build a strong, connected PwC UK Alumni community that fosters lifelong relationships with PwC and with each other.
To keep our Alumni connected to PwC through the latest developments, insights and opportunities.
To provide access to thought leadership, new services and perspectives from across the firm.
To support ongoing talent engagement and create future recruitment and collaboration opportunities.
How we engage
- A regular cadence of monthly newsletters, supported by an active and growing PwC UK Alumni LinkedIn community.
A programme of in-person events across our regions, designed to reconnect Alumni, strengthen relationships and facilitate valuable peer-to-peer networking.
Dedicated communications for former partners, providing updates on firm performance, strategic priorities and market insights.
Continuous development of the PwC UK Alumni programme to enhance relevance and value
Clients
(e.g. FTSE 350, private business, Government)
Why we engage
- To understand client, industry and business challenges.
To identify opportunities to improve our services and products.
To help clients understand the importance and impact of environmental, social, and corporate governance (ESG) issues.
How we engage
Managing relationships and dialogue via client teams; client satisfaction surveys; win/loss analysis.
Participation in industry and client forums on responsible business, for example, ‘Building Trust’ debates and awards; polls on specific topics on our website.
Employees and partners
(e.g. current staff and partners)
Why we engage
- To set direction for business and confirm major decisions.
- To help ensure our people understand how their work contributes to our Purpose and delivers our strategy.
To support the wellbeing of our people, and in turn, enable high performing teams.
To help create an inclusive and diverse workplace where everyone can thrive and feel that they belong.
To help promote the tools and opportunities that will support our people in their day-to-day roles, ongoing growth, and career progression.
To help to understand attitudes, and change behaviours relating to corporate sustainability.
How we engage
- Periodic engagement, such as people engagement surveys; regular staff and partner townhalls/roadshows; Shadow Leadership Team meetings and virtual forums; regular career or talent coach meetings; and quarterly Supervisory Board liaison meetings.
Regular firmwide and local communications from leadership, our People teams, and People and Sustainability networks on campaigns and specific issues, for example, inclusion topics, physical and mental wellbeing, and sustainability.
Investment community
(e.g. buy-side and sell-side analysts, credit ratings analysts, fund managers, and corporate governance professionals)
Why we engage
- To be a responsible party within the corporate reporting ecosystem by providing insights to companies on what the investment community wants from their reporting.
To help us to improve audit quality through better understanding of the investment community’s expectations.
How we engage
- Meeting the investment community to understand their areas of focus, including audit quality, corporate reporting, accounting standards, regulatory and governance issues.
Acting as secretariat to the Corporate Reporting Users’ Forum (CRUF), and facilitation of meetings between investment community representatives and senior partners.
Providing insights to companies on what the investment community wants from their corporate reporting.
Local communities
(e.g. local councils, charities, schools and other social purpose organisations
Why we engage
- To shape joint community programmes that maximise shared value.
- To develop opportunities and collaborate to broaden our people’s understanding of local community issues within communities.
- To support charities by recruiting more people from lower socioeconomic backgrounds and helping disadvantaged communities to develop skills, whilst enhancing the skills of people.
How we engage
- Reviewing meetings with local councils, community and voluntary organisations and social enterprises (VCSEs).
Providing professional expertise; volunteering and social value.
Informing community investment decisions; shaping joint community programmes that maximise shared value; focus on capacity building support through the PwC Foundation; develop opportunities to broaden our people’s experiences and share skills.
Media
(e.g. local and national media, social media)
Why we engage
- To openly communicate our purpose, performance and priorities.
To share our thought leadership, research and expert insights on important issues facing clients and wider society.
How we engage
- Sharing thought leadership, research and insight into public and business priorities, discussing our response to responsible business issues.
Regular engagement with the media, including meetings and interviews; press releases; responding to requests; briefings; written articles and opinion pieces; participation in conferences and roundtables; social media engagement and live events/ discussion; blogs.
Policymakers
(e.g. civil service, politicians)
Why we engage
- To provide our insight into and perspectives from the wider business community to help inform policy making.
How we engage
- Responding to consultations on and issuance of standards and proposed legislation, and Parliamentary inquiries.
Sharing our thought leadership and research through roundtables, reports and surveys.
Creating opportunities for dialogue and input to new policy on a wide range of responsible business issues such as economic inactivity, corporate governance reform, and AI adoption.
Regulators
(e.g. the Financial Reporting Council, the ICAEW)
Why we engage
- To maintain trust by meeting the highest professional and regulatory standards.
To help inform effective, proportionate and practical regulation by sharing insights from our experience serving clients across the economy.
To contribute to the development of standards that support confidence in markets and the public interest.
How we engage
- Responding to information requests, inspections, reviews and consultations.
Maintaining regular dialogue with regulators to discuss emerging risks, regulatory expectations and implementation challenges.
Sharing technical expertise and practical insights to support the development of effective regulation and professional standards.
Students
(e.g. sixth form and university students)
Why we engage
- To understand career motivations and job search behaviours of students, and perceptions of PwC.
To inform candidates about the opportunities and career choices at PwC.
How we engage
- Recruitment events - virtual and in person, publications, livestreams, surveys, employability training.
Informing prospective candidates about career choices to widen the talent pool and access to our professions.
Paid work experience and internships.
Mentoring students from under-represented backgrounds through initiatives like our Black Talent in Business, Advancing Social Mobility and Women in Business programmes.
Suppliers
(e.g. subcontractors and individuals associated with our suppliers subcontractors)
Why we engage
- To understand supplier concerns.
To provide mutual support to enhance quality of service and ESG standards in our supply chain.
To identify opportunities to collaborate on innovative solutions for ESG.
How we engage
Tendering process; formal supplier assessments; key supplier corporate sustainability workshops; conversations with individual suppliers; research to understand barriers to sustainability performance.
Understanding supplier concerns; mutual support to enhance quality of service and sustainability standards in our supply chain; identifying opportunities to collaborate on innovative solutions.
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