Work is serious business at PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) but that doesn’t stop staff letting their hair down at their annual panto. Employees who spend the year dealing with assurance, tax matters and advisory services tread the boards with relish at the Christmas production dressed as pantomime dames and principal boys.

But it’s their careers that take centre stage. Staff are encouraged to make development the “habit of a lifetime” and opportunities include leading class training, secondments, overseas assignments, mentoring and coaching programmes, career breaks and business-sponsored VSO.

Scores for personal growth and finding work stimulating are high at 76% and 70% of the maximum available respectively, ranking PwC at fifth and eighth on these measures.

Our training and development special award winner spends big on training; £40m was invested in development activities last year. Employees typically spend more than 50 days in off-the-job training during their first three years.

PwC trains more than 20% of the chartered accountants in the UK and its business diploma — a four-year development programme for managers — is run in association with the London Business School. The organisation gains a 73% positive rating for provision of useful training.

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Staff are also made to feel appreciated with a range of financial and non-financial rewards. Each office and team can develop a tailored approach to recognition that best suits them. “Thank you cards” given out by senior managers for instant credit are worth £100 and a “recognition tool kit” allows winners to choose awards from cinema tickets to spa weekends.

There is free private healthcare for all the workforce and their families, vouchers for childcare and free or subsidised sports facilities. The company also provides an employee assistance programme, health screening and in some sites physiotherapy and dental care. Pilates, meditation and fitness classes also help keep PwC people healthy.

Last year’s pantomime was relayed by satellite to seven hospitals across the UK and corporate social responsibility is high on the agenda at the firm. More than 2,000 employees gave 21,000 volunteering hours last year to charities and community groups.

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