PwC is to shut its US and Mexico offices for 2 weeks a year to help employees recharge

• PwC will shut is US and Mexico offices for two weeks a year to help consultants recharge.

• It's part of a $2.4 billion investment in benefits and wellbeing, PwC announced Friday.

PricewaterhouseCoopers will close its US and Mexico offices for two weeks a year to give consultants time to recharge, the company said Friday.

The consulting giant had already implemented a firmwide one-week shutdown in December but will now close for an additional week in July.

"Our people have told us that an important part of their wellbeing is having time to disconnect and recharge," Yolanda Seals-Coffield, deputy people leader at PwC US and Mexico, told Insider. "By far our people tell us that is the most valuable time they have away from work because we're all away together."

The two-week shutdown is in addition to workers' paid vacation, which averages between three to four weeks a year, Seals-Coffield said.

Consulting and accountancy firms — known for their demanding work culture — are scrambling to rethink the pay, benefits, and experience they offer their employees amid a wider talent war with investment banks and other industries.

PwC's move is part of a $2.4 billion investment over the next three years aimed at improving benefits for the firm's 55,000 employees in the US and Mexico, the firm said.

The new benefits package — rolled out under the banner "My+" — will also extend parental leave offered to all new parents from eight to 12 weeks. The firm gave US and Mexico based staff a 5% pay increase earlier this year, PwC said.

From July, consultants will be able to work abroad for up to 20 days a year, as long as they comply with local tax and immigration regulations, Seals-Coffield said. They're already able to work remotely from anywhere in the continental US under the firm's current flexible working policy, announced in October.

"We can't sustainably compete on compensation and benefits alone," Seals-Coffield said. "Fundamentally what is driving this strategy is that employees' expectations and mindsets have changed and people want greater control in choice around when, where and how much they work."

On Wednesday, PwC's UK business – which operates as a separate regional entity to the US – announced that its 22,000 staff will be able to clock off at midday between June 1 and August 31, The Guardian reported.

The UK switch to summer hours is part of a wider flexible working model entitled "The Deal," which lets partners choose their own hours as long as they spend at least two to three days a week on-site, per the newspaper.

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