PWC to help employees pay back their student loans.
washingtonpost.com/news/on-leadership/wp/2015...
washingtonpost.comPosted Sep 22, 2015, 2:07 PM UTC
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washingtonpost.comBefore we all suddenly start praising the Big 4 for their benevolence for something that has happened yet, why not remind ourselves what is really at play here.
Seriously, $100 of taxable income a month? This is a 2% "bonus" used for student loans.
Now, I'm not saying I'm not a fan of more money,
I'm just saying I'm not a fan of getting $1200 a year to lower my 2% bonus to 1% and then my next raise gets 1% cut off it.
And honestly, after working for a Big 4 for a while now, I don't have a doubt in my mind that the firm is making up for this cost in terms of raises/salary changes/bonus changes/ etc....
Let's be honest. When has a partner ever had the feeling of walking up to junior staff and saying "Let's pay them more"?
This is just marketing.
If they really wanted to help me pay my student loans they would loan me money at a lower % interest rate. They would make a significant donation to pay my student loans even at the trade of things like extra work, performance, etc. They would give me more than $100/month to do it.
B/S.
I get that much money from them to tell them I walk in circles everyday.
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When has a partner ever had the feeling of walking up to junior staff and saying "Let's pay them more"?
Does a $10 starbucks gift card count?
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Spot awards for great performance. Here get coffee so you work more :)
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Of course it does. It's like the same thing. Except they can get them in bulk for cheaper and save precious dollars. Precious dollars.
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I love the great bang for the buck that PwC gets from this, kudos to their marketing and HR teams for dreaming this up. A minuscule amount of tuition reimbursement amount that doesn't really cost the firm money in the grand scheme of things, but just enough that it gets to put out a puff piece on a nationally respected newspaper that shows how much it "cares" about its employees and how progressive it is.
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Bang for buck is relative. Would like to see the data on how this directly contributes to the bottom line. Will more talented recruits pick a firm for $1200 a year more? Personally, I doubt it will make too much of a difference until the numbers become more meaningful. But that's just one opinion. I do think it obviously plays well with the press given the state of student debt in the U.S. and it being a defining issue of the current generation of students and graduates.
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With how close the B4's all are in compensation it is important. For me when I was deciding, I paid close attention to the benefits. It's not like PwC is going to cut their starting salary back away from the other firms, but it is another perk they can put on the brochure. The average student loan debt is around 35k. They're offering to help pay 20% of that, not too bad.
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Hot damn, that is appealing. PWC folks, does this make up for them taking away gifs when you switched to Google?
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They can take our gifs, but they'll never take our jpgs!!!
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They implemented google but didn't shut down the old chat system so everyone will still continue to use it instead of hangouts..
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ugh but lotus notes is such utter dogshit
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No it doesn't.
I'm still salty over here.
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The gifs in Lotus Notes define my existence.
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Oh, that's happened? Awesome. What are you guys using for email now? A web client or Outlook?
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gmail web client
it is streets ahead of lotus notes (doesn't crash every three hours)
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Has calendar and everything else moved across? I always hated the invites in Notes.
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Yeah. Some lines of service still have to use notes though. Sucks for them
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My employer already helps me pay my student loans and they have done so for years. It's called a paycheck.
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Awesome but I'd still prefer a fitness subsidy over this along the lines of Deloitte/EY.
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Pretty sure every firm offers a fitness subsidy.
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KPMG and PwC do not offer the same style fitness subsidy that DT and EY do in the usa. Deloitte was the one to offer it first and then EY US employees all voted in favor of a similar subsidy last year so EY launched it as of Jan 1st, 2015.
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PwC gives you Visa gift cards / Amazon gift cards and what not for hiking/biking/walking etc. It's like $400 / year.
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Yes, but it's difficult to qualify for all the credits they offer. Additionally, there are limits on how many credits you can redeem once you hit a certain number.
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Interesting.
In Canada, all big 4 firms offer similar fitness benefits.
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Yeah the OP post is about PwC in the US so I thought we were talking about US firms, sorry. You are correct.
The other year the EY page on fitness subsidy for the Canadian firm went viral down the in US cause the US firm employees all thought it was a new policy for US employees until everyone noticed the .CA in the domain name haha
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What does Deloitte offer?
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A DT employee is going to have to chime in here but I think it is something $500* reimbursed per year for any kind of fitness related expense (gym, crossfit, treadmill for home etc.)
DT: http://www2.deloitte.com/us/en/pages/careers/articles/life-at-deloitte-benefits-and-rewards.html
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It obviously is not a significant amount of cash, but it is an excellent marketing/HR move. I think this is significant because it shows that even highly regarded companies are at least nominally concerned about student loan debt. They are getting in front of the curve on an issue that is shaping up to be a key focus in the presidential elections, and looking progressive on issues that affect their employees should bank some extra goodwill and esteem throughout the industry. There is an PR guy out there who is looking damn good today.
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Wonder if you have to pay back any if you leave. That would be a doozy.
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Directly from the article:
"The new loan repayment at PwC will not require employees to meet any kind of threshold in terms of years of service to qualify, nor will they have to pay back the benefit if they leave before a certain point."
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Interesting, I thought they could use this as a retention mechanism as well. I guess they wont be doing that.
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Good way to distance yourself from the other big 4 when it comes to recruiting talent out of college or recently out of.
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All the other large firms will have this program by the end of the year. It's a 2% raise packaged as a marketing gimmick.
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Oh for sure. Like many have said it isn't anything real special.
Pwc could then spin it as oh we are proactive, we are the leaders not just in business but with our actions or oh we are actually looking out for our employees.
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if you have student loans... if not then pppppptttttt
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Solution if you'd have no loans: accept PwC offer, take out student loan for last semester senior year. Tadaa! Free cash.
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Not really. Anyone stupid enough to leave a firm, especially if they have a better cultural fit with another firm for 1.2k annually is not someone you should want to keep around.
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I get what you are saying. If you are going to leave for something like this, you were already looking to leave I'd imagine and this is more of an icing on the cake.
For a student that has a burden of 20k, they could be like well I could go to Deloitte/EY/KPMG or these guys at PwC are offering to help with the student loans. Even if it is a small thing and pretty much just a reoccurring bonus, something you could say that really appeals to some people. Pure marketing ploy.
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Yeah I'm thinking it's for students completely up in the air. Although I don't see many of those. Also I'm hoping they don't shaft future pay to assist with this
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Good on them as long as they aren't cutting salaries.
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For all the people whining and bitching in this thread, I'll take a free $100/month (well $70-$75 after tax) for sitting on my ass doing nothing.
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nah man it's just a smoke and mirrors marketing ploy!!!!
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It's hilarious that everybody in this thread is "LAWL this is nothing and marketing DUHHH". It's a small perk on top of everything else that is offered. You get $5k for CPA, all study materials, tests paid for, and 25% of your salary (around $25k) if you stay til manager.
for those saying it will cut into bonus/raises, you must not have transparent conversations with your RP.
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Transparent conversation with partner.
"Here is your raise" Points to % raise
"Look, it is above the market raise" points to market raise average % on computer screen generated by company
"Yes, see we pay more than average" Points to your average pay in industry, also generated by the firm
"This year, The Bay Area is getting a cost of living adjustment! Hooray! New years started higher so you will get more to avoid compression!"
New year salary = 58k. Old Salary = 54k
Old Salary receieves 11% raise to 60k.
"WOW 11% RAISE GOOD JOB!"
2nd year associate does math. Notices his salary is 3.4% higher than a new associate. Notices inflation hovers around 2.6-3% in the area
So transparent. You can actually see them through the table you are bending over.
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You're 100% right, I'll admit west coast gets fucked more than a college freshman at a frat party. That's just the market though, unfortunately (IMO at least). I live in the Midwest and our raises/bonuses compared to COL is amazing. It doesn't have the glamour that Bay Area or NYC has, but it pays the bills.
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Won't be long before all firms follow suit; way to step up to the plate!
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We're accountants here. We should be able to see this for what it is - a $1,200 raise that will be retracted at the earlier of paying off your loans or making manager.
I think other firms are less likely to copy this policy than PwC's 3 years to senior.
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1,200 * 7% interest * 10 years means it also saves about $1k in interest (in year 1) and $3k in total interest over the life of your loan, on top of the $6,000 they are giving you. I don't know the tax implications of this kind of thing but I think $9k of value is a great perk.
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Sure, but if they just gave you $1,200 in additional salary/bonus instead of this student loan payback program there's nothing preventing you from using your salary to pay the student loan and save the same amount on interest anyway.
Since this new "benefit" is going to reduce salaries and bonuses for all employees in future years, it's essentially a way for employees who did not take out student loans to subsidize those who did.
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Just like students who took out student loans subsidized those on scholarship?
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Your argument really only applies to someone with a full-ride, which is exceedingly rare, especially if you went into public accounting. Yeah i feel real bad for being poor growing up, working 30+ hours a week while going to class 30 hours a week to pay rent, taking out loans for tuition, and then getting a small benefit that might take away a couple hundred dollars from all the kids that get their entire paychecks because Mom and Dad wrote a check when they were younger.
Yeah i feel terrible. It must be difficult to have parents with 20-100k of cash to throw at you when you were 18-22. Your supposed $200 a year or so to subsidize my loans is a fucking travesty. Such socioeconomic injustice.
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Since this new "benefit" is going to reduce salaries and bonuses for all employees in future years, it's essentially a way for employees who did not take out student loans to subsidize those who did.
What do you base this on? Are you just assuming?
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I don't think you can assume they are going to cut salaries over this. All the firms know the first thing in the comp package a student is going to look at is salary. They're going to stay close or the same as the rest of the pack.
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entry-level to about six years of experience
1,200 * 7% interest * 10 years
I think I'm misreading something or maybe I'm tired but where does the 10 years come in?
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10 years it term of standard student loans... Year ones interest saving is 1200x7%x10. Year two's interest savings is 1200x7%x9. Year threes interest savings is 1200x7%x8.... Edit on mobile asterisks don't show up.
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lol @ the people complaining about the $1200. get a grip.
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Why shouldn't the lol? It's a laughable amount. It's great for pwc employees assuming they don't get shafted down the line comp wise. Don't see many people leaving the other b4 for pwc cause of this
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They announced this at the office visit we were on last night. Very cool.
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Anyone know if this applies in Canada?
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ITT: A bunch of entitled fucks bitching about free money.
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ITT: Minor backlash from people incapable of seeing deeper firm dynamics and an insincere effort at a growing national problem.
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What deeper firm dynamics?
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Exactly.
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Lol. Exactly.
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Oh wow, 1200 a year that'll really make a dent in 60k
Agree. It counts as income. So it's a $100/month raise/bonus that they're trying to dress up. You only qualify if you have student loans. Take that, prudent and responsible savers!!
If considering 2 offers: $70k vs $71.2k, you'll likely treat them as equivalent. But $70k vs $70k + student loan help? Ironically, it seems as though they're hoping that their employees, who are supposed to be the most qualified of pretty much any profession to evaluate true worth, will fall for this psychological smoke and mirrors.
$71.2k is better than $70k + student loan help. That $1.2k disappears when they make manager or pay off student loans. It also wont be taken into account when determining bonuses or when you are looking for a new job and are asked for your current base salary.
Also, I wonder how many seniors who already have PwC offers and don't have any loans (full scholarships or parents paying in full) will take out loans just to be eligible for this.
You can take my student loan interest AGI reduction but you cannot take my freeeedoooooommm (except from January to April, June to July, and September to October).
Dam you're telling me the full ride scholarship was all for nothing?
Should have taken out loans and spent the money on booze like all the other guys...
Hashtag humblebrag
Well to be fair I go to a GA state school and you get free ride if you get a 3.0 out of high school w Hope. Not like a prez scholarship or anything that caliber.
I'm just sayin I could have still taken out fed loans on top of that.
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Why do you think they are obligated to pay your full debt on top of a salary?
Lol they already are paying everyone's student loans via their salary you fucking dingus.
1200 a year is peanuts, it's a PR move it isn't going to help anyone.
My girlfriend's loans are ~$8000. This will really help her
Why doesn't your girlfriend just be a little more conservative while grocery shopping and buy less starbucks she'd make the same amount in a year doing that.
No one thinks they are but to think that's comp that will actually attract top candidates? Anyone with a brain would laugh at the idea. Sure if you want to work for pwc this is a nice perk on top of it all, but I wouldn't jump ship for 1.2k regardless.
I mean people fall for the whole prestige thing already...
Books for a whole semester! eye roll
Yours were that cheap?
I just didn't buy half of them.
Why are you wrinkling your nose at a free 1200 a year?
Because it isn't free.
What do you mean by that, its 1200 more than you were getting previously?
That's the thing. It wouldn't be. Like so many have said, why not give a 1200 dollar raise?
Or my question, if they're serious. Why not have a, work for us for 5 years and we'll pay up to 30k of your loans off? Some commitment with a ceiling? I mean they already don't want to lose people. What are they thinking.
The shitty bank call center I work for pays 5 grand towards my tuition a year. No comittment. No major restrictions. Free and clear, 5 grand, on my paycheck at the end of the semester.