PwC nails progressive colours to mast with ban on all male job shortlists

There is value in making a progressive move when your sector is awash in controversy, but PwC's commitment to greater diversity appears to be sincere

Diversity central? PwC has banned all male job shortlists, one of a number of progressive moves the firm has made (Reuters)

Is it fair to consider the decision by PricewaterhouseCoopers to ban all male shortlists and interview panels through the lens of the controversies afflicting the professional services sector?

Up to a point, yes.

The industry has found itself under a harsh spotlight as a result of recent scandals, the collapse of contractor Carillon in particular.

PwC was out of the main line of fire in that one, but caught some shrapnel through serving as liquidator and working for the pension scheme when a joint report by two Parliamentary committees sharply criticised the big four accountancy firms, also including EY, Deloitte and especially Carillon auditor KPMG.

They were accused of prioritising their own profits at the expense of good governance at the companies they work for. The report called upon regulators to consider forcing a break up, something that has been much talked about in recent years.

Against that backdrop there is obvious value to be had in showing yourself to be a progressive organisation that is ahead of the game when it comes to one of the major issues - gender equality - affecting the British workplace.

But that doesn’t change the fact that its move is a good one, and might go some way towards addressing a gender pay gap of more just under 44 per cent through getting more women into the senior positions that pay the big bucks

The only way that can happen is if they first get on to shortlists, and are made part of the decision making process when it comes to senior hires, something the plan will address.

The firm is also going to examine how “career defining roles” are awarded and take steps to ensure everyone who works there has access to important career opportunities, such as working on big projects.

Kudos for that too.

To be fair to PwC, the organisation has been working on issues like this for quite some time. For example, it abandoned UCAS scores, based on A level grades, as a means of filtering candidates back in 2015, after having found that able candidates from disadvantaged backgrounds were losing out.

Full disclosures: I’ve been in to talk about disability, an issue affecting me and that I have written much about.

Along with its peers, PwC faces some serious issues, and has some serious questions to answer.

But from what I have seen, this is a firm that is making a sincere attempt to address the lack of diversity in its halls.

If its efforts prove successful, and exercises such as gender pay gap reporting will show whether they are, then it might even serve as an example to other businesses and government bodies that are struggling with the same sort of thing. Struggling being the operative word.

Who knows, PwC might ultimately be able to advise them. For a suitable fee, of course. That goes without saying.

But sometimes consultants do good work for their money.