Big Four consultancies ask employees to go slow on work travel, use public transport

Big four consultancy firms asks employees to go slow on travel

Deloitte, PWC, EY and KPMG – the Big Four in the world of consultancy - have asked their employees to go slow on work-related travels as the firms look to cut costs and reduce their carbon footprints, said people with direct knowledge of the matter.

These firms are increasingly nudging their employees to minimise work trips, including client visits, and asking them to conduct such meetings virtually to the extent possible.

In cases where travel is mandatory, the consultancy firms are encouraging their employees to use public transport systems like trains wherever possible, people cited above added. Most of these directives have been issued in the last two-three months.

One of the Big Four firms recently signed a major global client in Japan for consulting services. To provide the support required, generally two partners along with four other employees were supposed to make the trip. “But the firm took a view that it was sufficient for one partner to travel, and the rest could be coordinated online,” said one of the sources.

In a Big Four firm, a partner is usually a senior professional who has shares in the firm's profits and is responsible for strategic decision-making.

Another Big Four firm recently organised an internal event for its employees at a location few hours from Delhi. While the company permitted air travel for teams coming from Mumbai, Bengaluru, and other cities, it asked the Delhi-based employees to take a train to the destination.

The development assumes significance as work-related travel is a key expense for the firms. “To cultivate clients, some travel is inevitable for partners,” said a person cited above. “But most of the internal meetings of the firm will be done virtually.”

Emails sent to Deloitte, EY and KPMG remained unanswered till the time of publishing this story.

Environmental concerns are another key reason behind this pivot by the Big Four consultancies. They cited net-zero goal as another reason behind the move to reduce travel.

“In the professional services domain, travel is essential and through our net zero programme, we are encouraging our people to make conscious and greener choices to stay connected,” said Asha Ramanathan, chief operating officer at PwC India. “By promoting virtual collaboration, clubbing meetings and reducing unnecessary travel, championing public and low-emission transport such as inter-city rail travel is encouraged over flights and electric vehicles over fuel-driven cabs for local commute - we continuously nudge people to make conscious choices.”

However, not all senior executives are happy with this transition to more virtual meetings and less travel. A partner working at one of the Big Four firms told Moneycontrol that human connections were very important in client-facing businesses like consulting. “The more time you spend with the client in person, the better the chance of building a long-term working relationship with them. Some of the trips may not yield any commercial substance but are important for building human connections.”

Moneycontrol reported in January last year that Deloitee had asked 35 senior partners  to retire early as part of a massive organisational revamp. According to the report, Deloitte  offered a ‘golden handshake’ programme to a section of its senior leadership team in India from its audit, consulting, financial advisory, risk advisory, and tax practices.