Part of providing our Employees with the best possible people experience, is to ensure that they are healthy, both physically and mentally. Stakeholders expect commitments from organisations to care for the health of employees and to uphold their rights to adequate physical and mental well-being.
In addition, it is being increasingly proven that companies who maintain high standards in health, safety and labour rights can improve employee productivity and operational efficiency. Working proactively in these areas of the business will help identify and mitigate risks.
In order to fulfil our Firm’s purpose of building trust in society and solving important problems for our clients, we need a healthy workforce. our employees expertise, sense of excellence and innovation, and service orientation is what differentiates us in this fast-moving and competitive environment; and to remain a leading firm it is a priority for PwC to create a working environment in which the health of our workforce is protected, and where individuals feel comfortable to address health problems they may face.
Burnout rate
“Burnout” is a common workplace occurrence, and has even been recognised by the World Health Organisation (WHO) as an “occupational phenomenon”. Contrary to common belief, a burnout is actually a broader organisational challenge rather than talent management or personal issues. For PwC Luxembourg, the Luxembourgish Association Pour la Santé au Travail du Secteur Financier (ASTF) –who we work with closely– identified four common psychosocial risk factors that cause burnouts: workload, low level of autonomy and control; lack of financial or social recognition; and toxic management.
Our burnout rate acts as an ultimate indicator of the health and wellbeing of our People, and whether they are at risk. Subsequently, we set ourselves the target of ‘Zero Burnout’ in 2016, which we work with the Luxembourgish Association Pour la Santé au Travail du Secteur Financier (ASTF) to achieve.
This year, we had a total of 19 burnout cases. We acknowledge that we have not had a positive evolution and that our target is ambitious and not easily reachable. However, we have faith for the future, and in order to achieve our target, we need to make fundamental changes to the way we work. We are reviewing our plan with our human capital team to intensify our investment in our people and continuously improve our management culture. We aim to create a positive and healthy work environment where our employees feel protected (see Employee Journey). It is, in our view, a key element to close the gap with our target for the future.
The ASTF helps us raise awareness among our People regarding psychological pressures at work and how they can deal with them. In addition to external actors, such as ASTF psychologists who provide mental health training, we also have internal Ethics Counselors that our employees can talk to if they face difficult situations (see Legitimacy and Ethics for more information)
This material makes reference to WEF Core Disclosure - People - Health and Wellbeing - Health and Safety
This material makes reference to WEF Expanded Disclosure - People - Health and Wellbeing - Employee Wellbeing
Wellbeing as a top priority
Tackling burnout is a long journey, and in order to make fundamental changes to the way we work, we do not only have to address our points of improvements (mentioned above), but we also need to offer other resources to our employees to help them keep fit mentally and physically.
Be Well, Work Well
Be Well, Work Well is a tailored initiative aimed at designing, supporting and developing an organisational culture that is encouraging adequate behaviour to foster our quality of life at work. This pragmatic and solution-driven programme is conceived and deployed in the form of concrete tools, actions and objectives that make our well-being a true living reality at PwC. Some initiatives that we already have in place include, Sports@PwC (sport sessions available to our employees in-house or remotely), Kine@PwC (access to a physiotherapist three times a week at our premises), and Sports Clubs offering memberships to our employees at a preferential rate.
The latest editions to the Be Well, Work Well initiative are the Nap Rooms, a project initially proposed and led by our employees before it got the support of the firm. Introduced in mid-March, Nap Rooms give our employees the opportunity to rest and gain back the energy required to tackle their work. The rooms are designed to be a calming and quiet environment to disconnect and to break up a busy day. There are a total of four ergonomic napping cocoons installed in our premises at Crystal Park. Users of the cocoons can enhance their relaxation by listening to specific relaxing audio tracks provided by Nap&Up, the provider of the cocoons, or to their own music or relaxation tracks.
Be Well, Work Well and COVID-19
COVID-19 comes with new habits and behaviours. How can we stay active, motivatived, optimistic and resilient? To support our employees in their transition to full-time remote working, a “Be Well, Work Well Remotely” microsite was launched based on the already existing “Be Well, Work Well” initiative. It includes similar programmes as found previously on our microsite with a virtual twist, such as virtual sports sessions and virtual cultural events, as well as guidance on how to work most productively from home using G-Suite.
An important initiative we also launched was an internal COVID-19 Hotline, a free hotline available for all our employees to proactively help them manage their health and wellbeing during these difficult times. We counted 12 volunteers that were available four days a week (including Saturdays) throughout the three months of lockdown.
While we were able to make a smooth transition to full-time home based working, we need to keep in mind the health and wellbeing of our People as it goes well beyond the immediacy of the initial crisis. Being isolated and making the distinction between work life and private life at home are two examples related to health and wellbeing that our employees may continue facing in the new norm.
- Isolation: Even though social distancing is essential to protecting our physical wellbeing, isolation is one of the most significant stress factors caused by working from home. It is therefore important, for the wellbeing of your employees, to maintain good contact and connection with those working remotely.
- Distinction between work life and private life: The majority of PwC staff enjoyed working from home as it allowed them to save a significant amount of time commuting and they agreed that their concentration and productivity increased. However, it also became more difficult to fully log off from work in the evenings and separate working life from private life while at home. Similarly to how we promote a healthy work-life balance at the office, it is necessary to do so for home-based working scenarios too. It will not only lead to a healthy workforce, but it will encourage our employees to continue working from home in an effective and durable manner.
It is important for us to provide our employees with a healthy work environment, and we therefore commit to further reviewing the way we do business to ensure our everyday working culture is as healthy as possible.
This material makes reference to GRI disclosures 102-44 ; 102-46a ; 102-46b ; 102-47 ; 103-1 ; 103-2 ; 103-3
This material makes reference to SDG 3 “Good health and wellbeing” - Target 3.4 “Reduce mortality from non-communicable diseases and promote mental health”
This material makes reference to SDG 8 “Decent Work and Economic Growth”, Target 8.8 “Protect labour rights and promote safe working environments”
