Live our culture

Creating a positive impact through our innovation and expertise means shaping a world that is safer, healthier, more prosperous, equitable, and sustainable than before. It involves solving problems at scale and leaving a lasting, positive legacy. And it’s work that resonates with us on both a personal and professional level.

In 2024, this purpose-driven work earned the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority’s Supply Chain Award 2024 for ‘Best Example of Applying Creative and Innovative Solutions’, using AI technologies to help ensure the long-term safety of the UK’s nuclear energy infrastructure. Our work to empower consumers to become healthier in their own homes with a new-to-market connected rower was also recognised with an iF Design Award. Meanwhile, our Oakdoor team continued to keep societies safe by protecting highly sensitive data, named as a finalist in Infosecurity Europe UK’s award for the Most Innovative Cyber SME of the Year.

Building a positive human future extends to the communities in which we live and work. Accelerating social mobility through volunteering opportunities amplifies our sense of fulfilling work and the far-reaching impact we can have on others. Last year, our volunteers offered their time, dedication, and expertise to support future leaders (primarily those facing disadvantage from low-income backgrounds) through The PA Foundation and our PA in the Community programme. Across our global regions, 33 percent of PA people engaged in volunteering, contributing more than 21,000 volunteering hours to address socio-economic inequality through activities including mentoring, workshops, high-quality training, and work placements. And in 2024, The British Diversity Awards named our PA in the Community programme the ‘Social Mobility Initiative of the Year’.

We attract the best talent and ensure our people get to build their skills and hone their craft further – working on stimulating and diverse projects across seven sectors, 24 capabilities, consultancy, and business professionals roles. We support professional growth, experience, and learning through high-quality training, mentoring, and coaching, thought leadership opportunities, and industry awards.

Last year, we upgraded our onboarding experience for new joiners and partners, helping to jump-start and fast-track our peoples’ careers in more impactful and dynamic ways. We refreshed our core curriculum, delivered through blended learning formats, with 1,414 course completions, and our people also completed 3,525 hours of LinkedIn Learning, highlighting consistent efforts to build and maintain skills. We launched our new dedicated Line Manager Knowledge Hub, and we redesigned our Delivering Great Consultancy flagship programme – resulting in a 46 percent increase in participation.

Our people also expanded their understanding of the transformative power of AI, gaining hands-on experience with even more tangible applications. This included conceptualising, building, and launching Genie – our AI modular ecosystem, developing an AI blueprint for a major FTSE 100 company, delivering an LLM solution for a large oil and gas organisation, designing AI prototypes, and upskilling ourselves through training and events. We designed and produced a series of digital learning modules focusing on developing AI skills, knowledge, and understanding. These included Practical AI in Consulting, Responsible AI in Consulting, and The AI Blueprint, with more than 1,500 PA people enrolling in these courses in 2024.

Celebrating career growth remains an important aspect of our culture. Last year, we promoted 771 of our consulting and business professional team, including seven new partners, and several of our experts won individual industry awards.

A caring and inclusive workplace encourages our people to trust each other, have a voice, and feel heard.

In 2024, we launched several new training initiatives, including those aimed at strengthening our sexual harassment prevention policies and guidance, as well as a new Inclusive Leadership and Psychological Safety training programme. In December, we launched our Social Mobility Network, increasing our total number of employee networks to nine. This rounded off an impactful year of social mobility initiatives, which were recognised with a UK Social Mobility Award 2024 for ‘Innovation’.

We launched the Minority Ethnic Mentoring Programme, which provides visibility into career opportunities and connects junior and mid-level minority ethnic colleagues with senior sponsors, helping them to build deeper relationships and networks within the firm, develop their personal brand, seek out new work opportunities, and advance their careers. Our Mental Health and Wellbeing Network received more than 3,000 views of its knowledge resources, and we trained and educated 32 new Mental Health First Aiders and Champions – growing our support network to 93. Our Military Network won ‘Best Business Award’ at the Celebrating Forces Families 2024 Awards and, in partnership with our Pride Network, was nominated for ‘Advocate of the Year’ in the 2024 LGBTQ+ Defence Awards. Members of our Pride Network also participated in our first-ever Republic of Ireland Pride, and we were the headline sponsor of the inaugural Stonewall Workplace Conference Belfast 2024, held in partnership with The Rainbow Project and Stonewall.

Last year, we also launched a new MenoSupport Group, and our Women’s network hosted workshops in the US, Nordics, and UK on developing self-promotion skills and celebrating personal achievements at work. These workshops aimed to empower our women to confidently advocate for themselves and recognise the contributions they make to PA’s growth. Our Women in Tech Network relaunched its free coding career development courses and expanded its reach across the US, UK, and Ireland. Additionally, our Working Families Network joined the UK’s national charity for working parents and carers in a new partnership that underscores our commitment to championing flexible working and wellbeing.

Being a responsible business means ensuring the actions of our companies – from our systems to our policies – actively facilitate meaningful change, positively influencing the communities where our teams work and live. The bar is set high, and we continuously find ways to get better at what we do and how we do it. We want our people to thrive and our business to prosper.