By Amara Osei

PwC US will roll out a critical-thinking and judgment certification to more than 85,000 employees in December, targeting completion by June 2027.

The rollout will cover employees across PwC's US and Mexico offices and its Acceleration Centers (units supporting client work and business operations), according to Yolanda Seals-Coffield, chief people and inclusion officer at PwC US.

PwC expects participants to complete the program over roughly six months. The company will stage the rollout so employees can apply the material in routine assignments before development leaders evaluate proficiency through performance reviews.

Why is PwC certifying critical thinking now?

Seals-Coffield said: "The idea of this certification is not to design a traditional pass/fail exam." She described the alternative as giving employees repeatable skills and assessing them against those skills at year-end.

Her rationale centers on research, writing and analysis, which she said AI increasingly performs and employees once handled largely by hand. As AI absorbs those assignments, Seals-Coffield said some of the repetitive work that previously developed critical thinking and judgment will also decline.

First-year associates already perform different work than they did two years ago, Seals-Coffield said. A PwC analysis of US job listings found that entry-level roles exposed to AI were far more likely to include traditionally senior skills, including judgment and leadership, than entry-level roles did in 2019.

PwC has identified 15 AI skills and 15 human skills, including empathy and adaptability, that it believes will distinguish employees. The certification concentrates on critical thinking and judgment because PwC considers both vital as AI assumes more workplace tasks.

Seals-Coffield said PwC's five-part framework requires employees to do the following:

• Employees will evaluate information.
• They will establish context.
• They will challenge information and assumptions.
• They will refine analysis.
• They will communicate recommendations.

Seals-Coffield said this sequence gives workers a repeatable method for determining what information means and how to act on it. The method also supports PwC's training in responsible AI use and professional skepticism, or disciplined skepticism toward claims and evidence.

How will employees train?

The program will begin with a diagnostic of each participant's thinking style and how that style may shape judgment, Seals-Coffield said. The assessment considers whether a worker questions assumptions, reflects or approaches problems pragmatically, then identifies strengths and areas requiring development.

PwC is working with professors and veteran employees to develop classes that sharpen those skills. The next stage will use realistic simulations in which participants apply the framework to workplace scenarios rather than merely review concepts.

A personalized AI coach (a digital assistant tailored to the employee) will then help workers apply the training in daily tasks. Seals-Coffield said employees could use it to rehearse difficult conversations or prepare for client meetings.

The coach could also review an uploaded proposal, help an employee anticipate questions and identify which team member should take a particular role, according to Seals-Coffield. Content will vary by seniority, allowing PwC to tailor instruction to each experience level.

After certification, the AI coach can provide updated instructional content as PwC revises its curriculum, Seals-Coffield said. The company will also maintain a continuing standard for employee development: "We will continue to assess our people against their AI and human skills proficiencies throughout the course of their career."

How will PwC assess employees?

The staged rollout will give participants time to use the skills before development leaders assess them through performance reviews, Seals-Coffield said. The target is completion by the end of PwC's fiscal year in June 2027.

Seals-Coffield said the program would not rely on a traditional pass/fail examination. Instead, development leaders will assess proficiency within the performance-review process after employees apply the skills in daily work.

How does the program fit PwC's hiring strategy?

Seals-Coffield said PwC has broadened its hiring approach over the past two years and is recruiting more engineers and technologists than ever across its businesses. She said engineers were already common in advisory and now also work in PwC's tax and assurance divisions, expanding technical staffing beyond the advisory business.

The firm continues to recruit on college campuses and extends offers to the majority of its summer interns, according to Seals-Coffield. PwC declined to release year-over-year figures on entry-level hiring, leaving the scale of junior recruitment undisclosed.

The certification links two developments PwC has documented: first-year associates' assignments have changed over two years, and AI-exposed entry-level roles now include more senior skills than in 2019. The six-month program offers a measured way to rebuild capabilities that repetitive assignments once developed.