PwC Invests $45M in Wellness Perks & New Parents’ Benefits

Professional services firm PricewaterhouseCoopers is doubling down on it’s commitment to employee health and wellness with a $45 million-dollar investment into its wellness program.

Specifically, the wellness bonuses will help new families and emphasize PwC’s commitment to work-life balance. For new parents, PwC is now allowing staff members to work 60% of their hours while retaining 100% of their salary, for four weeks’ time, once their parental leave ends. The firm claims it is the first to “implement this approach at this level around parental leave.”

According to Jennifer Allyn, Diversity Strategy Leader at PwC, ”we’re always looking for opportunities to support our people in innovative ways. When it comes to parents, we recognized that the transition back to work after a leave can be challenging. That is why we introduced a new option to phase back on a part-time schedule at full-time pay. This benefit will give both mothers and fathers more flexibility to ease back into their careers after welcoming a new child to their family.”

Nationwide, companies have increased their focus on benefits and perks. According to a Harris Poll conducted on behalf of Glassdoor, nearly three in five (57%) people reporting benefits and perks being among their top considerations before accepting a job. it’s no wonder that employers have doubled down on their offerings to both recruit and retain top talent.

PwC’s new policy comes on the heels of employee feedback about parental leave. On average, PwC new mothers have taken 21 weeks of leave and 72% of PwC fathers take 6 weeks of leave. While their new parents value the time off to care for their newborns, they told PwC they need extra help phasing back into work when it’s over. Therefore, the Big Four firm developed this first-of-its-kind benefit that addresses a real need from parents to phase back into work after leave.

PwC’s full list of wellness employee perks includes:

$1000 bonus to all staff to spend on wellness-related activities;
Four weeks of “Paid Family Care Leave” for all partners and staff to care for certain family member with serious health conditions;
Eight weeks of paid parental leave for staff of any gender with a new child (currently six);
New “Phased Return to Work” transition, with the option of new parents working 60% of hours, at full-time pay, for an additional four weeks following a block of paid parental leave;
$25K reimbursement, per child, for adoption (currently $5K);
$25K reimbursement, per child, for surrogacy (traditional and gestational) expenses;
Pro bono membership to sittercity.com (childcare, housekeeping, pet care services);
Six hours of free Eldercare consultation (home assessments, implementation of care, etc.)