PwC Plans Critical-Thinking Certification for 85,000 Staff
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When software does the research, writing and analysis that junior staff once did by hand, those staff lose some of the repetition that built their judgment. PwC US is trying to replace that practice with a formal program.
Who takes part and when
The firm will run a certification in critical thinking and judgment. More than 85,000 employees across its US and Mexico offices will join, along with staff in its Acceleration Centers, which support client work and business operations. The program is set to start in December.
Yolanda Seals-Coffield, chief people and inclusion officer at PwC US, described the reasoning. AI now helps with research, writing and analysis, she said, and the repetition in those tasks used to help people develop judgment. That repetition will be thinner.
Work has already shifted, she said. First-year associates are doing different work than they did two years ago.
How the certification works
Employees are expected to finish it over roughly six months. It starts with an assessment of a person's thinking style. The question is whether someone tends to question assumptions, reflect, or act as a pragmatist. The aim is to show workers their natural strengths and where they need the most focus.
Professors and veteran PwC staff are helping to develop the first classes. Next come “realistic simulations” in which employees apply a framework to their own work. The framework covers evaluating information, setting context, challenging assumptions, refining analysis and communicating recommendations.
A personalized AI coach then helps staff carry the lessons into daily tasks. It could help someone practice a difficult conversation or prepare for a client meeting. It could also review an uploaded proposal and help the employee anticipate questions, or suggest which team member should take which role.
Assessment and hiring
The rollout comes in stages. Staff get time to apply the lessons before development leaders judge their proficiency as part of the performance review process. Content will be customized by seniority. Participants are meant to complete the program before the fiscal year closes in June 2027.
Seals-Coffield said this is not meant to be a traditional pass/fail exam. Employees are given repeatable skills and room to be assessed against them at year-end.
PwC also looked at US job listings. Compared with 2019, entry-level roles touched by AI are much more likely to ask for skills once tied to senior jobs, judgment and leadership among them. Separately, the firm has named 15 AI skills and 15 human skills, such as empathy and adaptability, which it expects to distinguish its people.
The firm says it is hiring more engineers and technologists than ever, and they now work in its tax and assurance divisions as well as advisory. It still recruits on college campuses and makes offers to most of its summer interns. The firm did not disclose how its entry-level hiring has changed from year to year.
Source: Business Insider