Picture this: you’re well prepared for a client pitch – if it goes well, it could lead to a promotion. But on the way in, a receptionist mistakes you for a security guard. You feel left out, and your expertise overlooked. Clients automatically defer to your colleague, who is white, even though you are the specialist within the team. Or you force yourself to go to the pub with your team, because that’s where the best networking happens, even though you don’t like drinking and you can’t join in with the ski chat.
Before you open your mouth, you mentally remind yourself that you must sound “approachable, likable, relatable”. You still don’t seem to belong to the “in” crowd. A less talented team member – white, male – gets the promotion. You’ve been passed over.
It is now possible for employees who aren’t from a minority background to put themselves in the shoes of someone who is, and experience working life from their perspective. At PwC UK, employees can walk in the virtual shoes of “Sam” – and everything they encounter is based on real experiences of people from minority groups. Although it can be experienced via a virtual reality (VR) headset, it feels real.
This is “In My Shoes”, a groundbreaking tool that uses engaging technology to create a powerful training experience, available via desktop or VR headset, that 31% of PwC UK’s staff have already undergone. There’s interest within the company and clients to adapt the experience to fit different cultures. “You’re living the experience of a black man at work, but you don’t know who you are until the very last moment when you look in the mirror,” says co-chair of PwC UK’s Black Network, Sam Aluko, who helped create the project.
In My Shoes was originally inspired by the Black Lives Matter movement. “We thought a lot about how we could address the frustration that people felt and make a real difference,” says Aluko. He worked with PwC UK’s wide ranging networks to distil real-life stories and experiences. Authentic content was put together by a professional team. “We set ourselves a bold challenge to show people’s emotions and expressions through VR,” says Aluko. “It’s so immersive, it brings it to life and kickstarts so many conversations.”
Afterwards, employees have a chance to discuss their feelings and responses in person, with a follow-up session. “Some people cried, some felt angry, and a lot of women recognised these experiences too. Some people were very emotional,” says Louise Liu, head of metaverse projects at PwC UK. But this is not a finger pointing exercise. “It made people think: How would I approach this situation in real life, what would I do differently now?” she says.
VR enthusiasts have long championed its potential use as a tool for fostering greater empathy towards people who might experience life very differently from you. There have been efforts to use the technology to simulate age-related issues in order to help medical students and other health professionals better empathise with elderly people. Some proponents have even dubbed it an “empathy machine”.
While VR has been used for some time in simulation and training exercises, Liu believes that it has reached a tipping point. Headsets are lighter and more affordable; bandwidth has improved to help create a more immersive experience. This means effective training experiences can now be rolled out in an affordable way to large numbers of staff, with high levels of engagement – V-learners felt nearly four times more connected to the content than classroom learners, PwC UK found in an employee survey.
The potential of VR to develop soft skills is particularly powerful, says Liu. “Say you’re interviewing someone. How would the person react to comments you make? VR can help you practise your technique.” It can help develop your presentation skills and teach you how to engage an audience, or perform under pressure.
PwC UK’s “Seeing is believing” report, which looks more broadly at the business benefits of VR and AR (augmented reality), estimates that these tools could contribute $1.5tn (£1.25tn) to the global economy by 2030, through advances in areas such as customer experiences, product design and staff and workplace development. VR and AR can transform how businesses make and develop products, and help companies realise ideas and innovations at pace, says PwC UK.
Clients are keen to develop bespoke training programmes using VR, says Liu. “It’s a growing space in so many different sectors.”
Well-deployed technology can help companies hang on to their valuable staff, says Joey Jegerajan, chief technology officer for UK and EMEA consulting at PwC UK. For the first time ever, four generations of staff are now at work together, he says, including generation Z, which now makes up 20% of the workforce. “They were born with smartphones in their pockets,” he says. “They’re used to technology, handling data, and they expect 15 to 20 careers in their lifetime. Run-of-the-mill training just won’t cut it for them.”
Employees now expect high quality training and a genuine sense of connection. “But you must have very high production values to engage your audience,” says Jegerajan.
During the pandemic, he says, PwC UK introduced virtual spaces where new employees could meet and learn – these proved so popular that the company has retained them even as staff returned to work in person.
Working with new partners, PwC UK is driving further innovation on many fronts, hiring and nurturing creativity within its core business. New acquisitions – such as this year’s purchase of London-based innovation consultancy Pollen8 – have enriched the company’s technology mix. “We’re hiring a huge amount of people and training them to drive innovation and push forward. I passionately believe that our future is tech powered but human led,” says Jegerajan. “There’s been unprecedented disruption over the last few years – Covid, the war in Ukraine, inflation and the cost of living. We’ve surprised ourselves at how innovative we can be, how fast we can move. This has been a huge focus of ours as an organisation – how do we create a culture that is comfortable with taking risks, knowing that you are taking risks for the future?”
Since the pandemic, employees have become used to virtual connections, and it’s here that PwC UK’s innovative technology has been able to raise the quality of team interactions.
PwC UK’s Perform Plus, for instance – a platform that boosts connections between teams and nurtures collaboration among dispersed teams – has continued to raise productivity and staff wellbeing among client companies. “[Perform Plus] is very good at getting people aligned around common goals, and it builds connections in a way that [video conferencing] can’t,” says Jegerajan. “We also use the tools – such as daily huddle rooms – to operate in a better way and to interact with our customers.”
Leading technology challenges such as how to harness the power of the cloud to help transform businesses is a major focus of PwC UK’s core areas of expertise, says Jegerajan. “Everyone is looking to move their businesses to the cloud,” he says. “We can bring the technology knowhow – we have thousands of technologists – coupled with our deep industry expertise and understanding of business to help deliver real value to clients.”
For Aluko, whose day job is in risk management, it’s an invigorating place to work. “I think this is one element that sets PwC UK apart – it really does embrace technology in all forms, and push the boat out in terms of trying something new.”
Whether you’re just starting out or have a wealth of experience under your belt, find out more about career opportunities at PwC UK
