Major UK consulting firms are rethinking their approach to remote work and considering bringing junior employees back to the office more frequently, the Financial Times reports. The shift has been driven by the rise of artificial intelligence, which is taking over an increasing share of technical and routine tasks. As a result, communication, empathy, leadership, and other skills that are harder to develop in a remote setting are becoming more valuable. Leaders at EY, KPMG, and other firms believe that in-person interaction will help young consultants gain hands-on experience faster and learn from senior colleagues.
According to EY's UK consulting head Sae Ganbari, the development of AI is forcing companies to reconsider the balance between work flexibility and in-person interaction. "This shift we've seen over the last few years, where people have structured their lives to spend a lot of time at home, simply isn't the path to success in an AI world," she said. In her view, companies will need to partially reduce flexibility in order to help employees develop skills that are becoming more important in the context of automation. Ganbari noted that AI will increasingly handle routine consulting work, while people will need to focus on what remains their competitive advantage.
At the same time, Ganbari described bringing back employees who have already built their lives around remote work as "a real leadership challenge." She stressed that building a career in consulting and developing the necessary human skills is difficult when a significant portion of work is done remotely. Following the COVID-19 pandemic, the consulting industry largely shifted to a hybrid work model, but some firms now consider in-person interaction more important than ever. Consulting has traditionally relied on a mentorship model, in which junior staff observe senior colleagues working with clients and then debrief on meetings and decisions made. According to Ganbari, during the mass shift to remote work, firms "stepped back" from some human skills training, focusing instead on AI and technical competencies.
KPMG partner Lisa Ferniehough said the firm is experimenting with new in-person learning formats to "reimagine" the development of both soft and technical skills. "The speed of learning face to face will be much higher than when working remotely," she noted. KPMG's UK consulting business head Callum Lyczens added that due to AI-driven changes, it has become "more important than ever for people early in their careers to have the opportunity to learn directly from others."
Companies' approaches to office work vary. Deloitte leaves individual teams to determine their own office attendance frequency, EY and PwC continue to operate hybrid models, KPMG is testing new in-person learning formats, and Azets encourages junior staff to spend up to four days a week in the office. At Boston Consulting Group, the London office is expanding the number of social activities — including chess, padel, and netball clubs — to encourage junior consultants who started their careers during the pandemic to work together more often.
Accenture's UK senior partner Matt Prebble said the company has also considered the need for in-person interaction to develop human skills, but does not view mandatory office attendance requirements as necessary, since younger employees already see the benefits of such work. This trend echoes the concept of a "human reserve" proposed by Bill Gates, which envisions preserving a portion of professions and tasks for people even as automation continues to advance.