Source: consultancy.nl
Petra van Zuijlen joined PwC’s Deals practice as a partner in February 2020. Six weeks later, the coronavirus crisis struck. While her first year with the firm is turning out very differently than she had expected, the crisis has in fact confirmed that her decision to join PwC was the right one. “It’s when times are tough that organisations show their true colours. PwC has demonstrated its engagement with its own people and with society.”
Petra van Zuijlen joined PwC after a lengthy career in consulting and the business world. “I started out in audit at EY and ultimately moved up to partner in Transaction Services, where I focused on due diligence. After twenty years with EY, I decided it was time to try something new. I wanted to explore the great big world, so to speak.”
And so she did. Over the past eight years, Van Zuijlen has held management and boardroom positions with grid manager TenneT and HR service provider Staffing Associates. She enjoyed her work, but ultimately yearned to get back into consultancy again.
“Turns out I really enjoy being a consultant. What appeals to me most is having personal contact with people, being able to help and advise clients. I love it and find it challenging on a personal level. But I’m also very happy that I’ve worked in business and industry because it gave me valuable new insights and perspectives. Now, as a consultant, it’s very helpful to know what it’s like sitting on the opposite side of the table.”
Van Zuijlen decided to join PwC because she found the company culture attractive. “The appeal of any job ultimately lies in the people you work with. Right off the bat, at the very first interview, I felt entirely at ease at PwC. And I also found its engagement with society enormously appealing.”
Unreal
But it was precisely the all-important personal contact that became largely impossible shortly after she began her new job. All of a sudden, the pandemic compelled everyone to work from home.
“That made the first couple of months on the job a bit tougher. Fortunately, I had started six weeks before the first lockdown and had the opportunity to get to know many of my colleagues and fellow partners. But there are still quite a few whom I’ve only seen on my computer or tablet screen. Digital technology is an extremely valuable asset in these times, but we’re also discovering how important personal contact is, especially when we meet people for the first time.”
Van Zuijlen had also just embarked on a project when the lockdown began. “It was shut down immediately. It was all quite unreal.”
Role in society
Van Zuijlen is able to put her situation in perspective, however. “It was annoying, but let’s be honest: my situation is nothing compared to what others have suffered because of the virus. So I was very glad that, right from the outset, PwC demonstrated its engagement with society by launching various initiatives. For example, we set up a Covid-19 helpdesk to assist small businesses, charities and social enterprises navigate the many questions and challenges facing them. And the Deals practice to which I belong has also shown a strong desire to help out.”
Corporate social responsibility may not be the first thing that comes to mind in a Deals practice. People are more inclined to associate it with slick traders in expensive suits closing million-dollar deals every week.
But that image is long outdated, stresses Van Zuijlen. “First of all, assisting enterprises in difficulties is an integral part of the practice. Our restructuring department supports companies through the various stages of ‘distress’, for example when they are designated by their banks as non-performing accounts. So Deals is not only involved in M&A but also in creating and retaining value in a broader sense.
“Second, the M&A discipline has gone through tremendous changes in recent years. You see this in due diligence, for example, my personal area of interest. While the financial aspect naturally plays a major role in this, a company’s financial situation is ultimately the result of how it operates as a whole. That’s why we scrutinise the organisation in a much broader sense, and what is playing an increasingly important role is how much value an enterprise generates for society. In other words: how is a company helping to build a better world?”
Value creation
Such considerations certainly play a crucial role in healthcare, Van Zuijlen’s main focus. “The healthcare sector is naturally facing enormous challenges, this year certainly, but in the longer term too. The population continues to age, making it increasingly difficult to deliver adequate top-quality care. We are keen to make a meaningful contribution to meeting these challenges.”
One major tool in the campaign to address staffing shortages in healthcare is digitalisation. “The pandemic has shown us how essential it already is, for example e-health solutions that make remote consultations possible. In time, however, digitalisation will only become more important. A transition of this kind will require a considerable amount of capital, but this is a growing market that’s attracting investors, matching supply and demand. It’s a good example of how M&A can boost the drive towards better and more affordable care.”
Creating value is crucial to the work undertaken by the Deals practice. “We focus on the entire M&A cycle, from strategic planning before the deal to deal preparation, execution on the ground, and post-merger or post-acquisition integration processes. The overriding idea throughout the entire cycle is value creation. We work on that at every stage, not only in the strategy but also during integration, when the challenge is to achieve the full potential of the transaction.”
“I was very glad that, right from the outset, PwC demonstrated its engagement with society by launching various initiatives.”
“The organisation benefits enormously by employing people from all kinds of different backgrounds – cultural or otherwise – who therefore have different ways of thinking about the world.”
Connected from afar
In addition to their responsibility to society, companies naturally also have a responsibility towards their own employees. And in that way too, 2020 has been revealing.
“Fortunately, the impression I had of PwC during those initial interviews has been reaffirmed over the past six months. As a newcomer working from home I could have become isolated, but despite the physical distance I felt a very strong sense of connection. It’s naturally been a time of uncertainty for many people. PwC eased that uncertainty by communicating as much as possible from the outset, and by making it clear that it was doing everything it could to keep everyone on board, including those who had just started working for the firm.”
Van Zuijlen’s situation as a newcomer was also unique: she had to start off in her position working remotely herself and yet immediately assume a leading role in supporting her employees through a difficult time.
“That’s true, but it all went pretty smoothly. I scheduled virtual coffee dates with people in the first few months to get acquainted and used those occasions specifically to ask them how they were doing, whether they had any worries, and what we could do to help them.”
In addition, PwC and the Deals partner team organised the necessary support. “First of all, as I mentioned, communication is essential: weekly updates, lots of calls. It’s also important to devote extra attention to wellbeing in times like these. We’ve scheduled several sessions to counsel and support people in that regard. But it’s also important to share good times with one another, so – like many companies – we’ve arranged some fun social activities, for example virtual pub quizzes and cocktails.”
Remote working can be particularly hard on younger employees because it robs them of much of the contact with colleagues that is so crucial to their professional and personal development.
“That’s definitely challenging. Fortunately, PwC has been offering online learning modules for some time now. We’ve also organised extra webinars on specific content for all our employees. But a big part of training young professionals also comes down to ‘training on the job’. That’s been harder on ongoing projects since the coronavirus restrictions were tightened up again. But during the summer, when we had a bit more leeway, we immediately seized the opportunity to get together at the office and provide closer support – while observing the social distancing rules, obviously.”
More diversity
2020 was not only the year of Covid-19 but also of Black Lives Matter. Organisations had already been placing growing emphasis on diversity and inclusion over the past few years, but it has now taken on a new significance.
“What the BLM movement has made clear is that diversity encompasses much more than gender relations. While it’s true that M&A remains a male-dominated field with plenty of room for improvement – only four out of thirty partners in the Deals practice are women – we need to look at diversity in a much broader sense. I’m a firm believer in what Neelie Kroes recently called ‘diversity of thought’. The organisation benefits enormously by employing people from all kinds of different backgrounds – cultural or otherwise – who therefore have different ways of thinking about the world.”
D&I was already a major priority at PwC before the BLM movement gained prominence in the summer. “We have a very active diversity group that includes various communities, for example for women, for employees with a non-western migration background, for employees who face challenges at work, and for LGBTQI+ communities. Our CEO Ad van Gils is also very committed to D&I and actively encourages this discussion.”
Another vital factor is awareness within the organisation that there is always room for improvement. “There’s been a sort of internal ‘chain letter’ circulating recently that addresses the issue from a variety of perspectives. Employees have added to it by sharing their personal experiences. And what they relate can be quite disconcerting. It makes us realise that, even in an organisation that we assume is entirely open-minded, not everyone always experiences it that way. But that’s precisely why you cannot avoid the discussion. Pain is the doorway to growth.”
Action is also being taken within the Deals group. “We have a Women in Deals group, and I myself am involved in an initiative to take D&I in Deals to the next level. If I compare the practice now with the situation a few years ago, I see a much broader spectrum of people from very different backgrounds today.”
Personal contact
Van Zuijlen sees plenty of major challenges ahead for the healthcare sector, society at large, and PwC itself. “Absolutely. I’m looking forward to making a contribution to meeting those challenges in the years ahead. In the shorter term, I’m obviously keen to have more personal contact with others again. We’re doing a great job given the circumstances, but there’s nothing like interacting ‘live’ with clients and co-workers.”