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 their views on how well we’re meeting them, as well as collaborating with them 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 increasingly draw on a wide range of techniques, from simple surveys of particular stakeholder groups, to multi-stakeholder 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 an example of how we periodically engage with different stakeholder groups, and detailed case studies are highlighted each year in our Annual Report.
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 keep our alumni updated on PwC developments and share business insights.
- To develop our broader relationship building.
- To help alumni to build professional and personal networks.
How we engage
- Alumni community platform, with quarterly newsletters tailored by region, events (as and when possible), and alumni LinkedIn group.
- Identifying new initiatives, and ensuring the alumni programme continues to deliver value, including tailoring content by business interest and region.
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 Public Trust’ debates and awards; polls on specific topics on our website.
- Identifying opportunities to improve our services and products; helping clients understand how ESG and sustainability-related international agreements impact businesses.
Employees and partners
(e.g. current staff and partners)
Why we engage
To support the wellbeing of our people.
To help create a diverse and inclusive workplace.
To help to understand attitudes, and change behaviours relating to corporate sustainability.
To set direction for business and confirm major decisions.
How we engage
Periodic engagement, such as annual people survey, regular staff and partner townhalls/roadshows, regular career meetings and quarterly Supervisory Board liaison meetings.
Regular communications from our Diversity & Inclusion and Wellbeing & Sustainability networks on campaigns and specific issues, for example, ColourBrave, ‘Green Light to Talk’ and the Climate Change campaign.
Investment community
(e.g. buy-side and sell-side analysts, credit ratings analysts, fund managers, and corporate governance professionals)
Why we engage
To act as 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 investment community expectations.
How we engage
Meeting the investment community to understand areas of focus, including audit quality, 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 audit partners.
Acting as a responsible party within the corporate reporting ecosystem by providing insights to companies on what the investment community wants from their reporting.
Local communities
(e.g. local councils, charities, communities)
Why we engage
To shape joint community programmes that maximise shared value.
To develop opportunities to broaden our people's experiences within local communities.
How we engage
Reviewing meetings with local councils, community and charity partners.
Providing professional expertise; volunteering and social impact measurement.
Informing community investment decisions; shaping joint community programmes that maximise shared value; focus capacity building support through PwC Foundation; develop opportunities to broaden our people's experiences.
Media
(e.g. local and national media, social media)
Why we engage
To openly communicate our performance and strategy and manage our reputation.
To share our thought leadership and insights on important issues.
How we engage
Monitoring media and social media; attending conferences and roundtables; having ongoing conversations with journalists; actively engaging in social media discussion; responding to our opinion pieces, and producing blogs.
Sharing thought leadership and insight into public and business concerns, discussing our response to responsible business issues.
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 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 social mobility, audit reform, and climate change.
Regulators
(e.g. the Financial Reporting Council)
Why we engage
To ensure our compliance with existing regulations.
To contribute to the evolving regulatory agenda.
How we engage
Responding to inquiries, inspections, reviews and consultations.
Proactively engaging on expectations and concerns, for example, transition to operational separation.
Helping to shape new regulations and standards by collaborating to create a better regulatory landscape.
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, publications and webcasts, surveys, online employability training; paid work experience and internships.
Informing candidates about career choices to widen the talent pool and access to our professions.
Mentoring students from under-represented backgrounds through our Black Talent in Business programme.
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 sustainability standards in our supply chain.
To identify opportunities to collaborate on innovative solutions for sustainability.
How we engage
Tendering process; formal supplier assessments; key supplier sustainability workshops; conversations with individual suppliers; research to understand barriers to sustainability performance.
Engaging suppliers on human rights requirements and reporting the number of suppliers with relevant policies in our sustainability scorecard.
Understanding supplier concerns; mutual support to enhance quality of service and sustainability standards in our supply chain; identifying opportunities to collaborate on innovative solutions for sustainability.
More on our sustainability strategy
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