PwC Australia extends remote overseas working to its staff
After Deloitte, KPMG and Ernst & Young, PwC has also offered its Australian staff a chance to work from overseas for up to eight weeks. The opportunity to go overseas is not only for work but the ideas is to allow for extended overseas trips.
This is a significant shift in our policy, introducing the opportunity for our people to extend breaks by blending short-term remote working with annual leave, both within Australia and overseas,” said PwC Australia boss Tom Seymour.
The company believes this will give the employees a chance to employees to spend time with loved ones and extended families missed during the pandemic.
One challenge that may come in the way of this new policy is visa approvals and travel restrictions.
As per a report, approval has been granted for eight countries; the US, UK, Ireland and South Africa, and, closer to home, India, New Zealand, Malaysia and the Philippines. The scheme is expected to be extended to more countries over time.
Speaking about the policy, Seymour wrote on LinkedIn: “If the pandemic has taught us anything about the future of work at PwC, it’s that you don't need to be physically in the same place as your colleagues to do your job. If that’s true, why should our travels to visit friends, family, and see the world be confined to the few weeks of leave we can get in a year?”
Remote working opens a great opportunity for people to strike a better work-life balance. However, on the other hand, many Australians have shared they have been working more than ever before in this work model. To make most of the remote working setup and not allow it to become a cause for digital fatigue and burnout, organisations need to look at their work policies and culture.
Equal distribution of work, no calls on holidays, no calls after work, and other such rules may help draw clear boundaries and allow people to have a healthier work-life balance. It is only when the ways of working will change that these policies and benefits will be impactful.