Inclusion, Diversity & Equity

Cultural inclusivity

Everyone who works at KPMG should feel like they belong. We work hard to create a sense of inclusion across the whole organisation, regardless of background or culture.

Here are some ways we do that:

• Cultural leave – swap an existing public holiday with a different day that’s more relevant to your beliefs and traditions.
• The Belong network – a safe space for culturally diverse employees to connect, celebrate events and drive positive change.
• Asian Female Leaders network – holds regular events where members and guests can share experiences.
• Muslim Faith network – a supportive network for our Australian Muslim community.
• Illuminate Leadership and Talent program – addressing under-representation of culturally diverse talent.

We are progressing towards our target of 20% culturally diverse partners by 2025, although there is still much room for improvement. Our partners are encouraged to build their own cultural intelligence and consider their leadership impact.

Indigenous inclusion

We have a long and proud history working alongside Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and communities. And, in 2021, our third ‘Elevate’ Reconciliation Action Plan launched.

By building a culturally safe and informed workplace, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander colleagues can grow their careers with us through opportunities like:

• Emerging Indigenous Executive Leaders Program – run by UNSW and AGSM, this program provides executive level leadership development to high performing Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander managers.
• Indigenous Tertiary Scholarships – inspiring and supporting future Indigenous talent through selected universities.
• CareerTrackers Indigenous Internship Program – Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander university students can receive paid internship opportunities with us.
• KPMG Indigenous Network (KIN) – provides a safe space where Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander colleagues meet regularly to connect, share and celebrate. The KIN also provides input into policies and strategic documents that will impact Indigenous Peoples and Communities.
• Indigenous Cultural and Ceremonial leave – an extra paid day of leave for Indigenous employees to participate in significant cultural, ceremonial or community events.
• Arrilla Digital Cultural Awareness training – mandatory for all Australian employees, to help improve their cultural and historical awareness.

In July 2021, Djiribul woman and KPMG Partner Shelley Reys AO became the first Indigenous Australian to be elected to our Board.

Family and caring responsibilities

We want to support you when you need to support your loved ones. Because, bringing your whole self to work means we understand you have other responsibilities too.

In 2021 we became accredited as a Family Friendly Workplace, recognising the support we offer families and carers through a culture that bridges the work and family divide.

Here are some ways we do that:

• 26 weeks flexible paid parental leave regardless of gender – with no tenure-based requirements, this leave can be taken within the first 24 months of the child’s arrival, including adoption, surrogacy, and foster care.
  
  We’ve recently seen a 20 percent increase of men taking parental leave. This market leading policy, and our Fathers Network helped us win Australia's Best Workplace for Fathers in 2022.
• KPMG Fathers Network (KFN) – a group of fathers from across the country aiming to promote the benefits of involved fatherhood to families. The network also provides practical and hands-on advice for fathers and participates in company policy development.
• Compassionate leave – has been extended for those who experience pregnancy loss and miscarriage. We also support partners, people and their families with domestic violence leave and other initiatives.
• Parents at work partnership – provides support, resources and tools to guide our people through their work-life integration as a parent or carer.
• Elder care referral program – connects people with skilled experts to provide guidance and support for those who are caring for elder family members.
• Flexible work arrangements – our three-hub flexible working policy offers more choice and flexibility for our people, trusting them to make the best decisions about where they work – whether it be office, home or at a client site.

Gender equity

We know the key to parity is to improve the number of women in leadership roles, so we’re investing in programs that develop female talent and leadership capability.

• Targeted Talent – this program involves senior team members sponsoring future female leaders. This has been running for over five years and successfully developed hundreds of women leaders.
• Future Leaders – was recently introduced to support the progress of up-and-coming women.
• In Her Hands – is our first junior women’s network that creates space for women to share experiences and challenges within the corporate environment. The network helps women to find their voice, their tribe and their confidence in the value they bring to KPMG.
• Our Women in Partnership target aims to have 40 percent women in partnership by 2025. In meeting this target, we strive for a 40:40:20 gender balance – 40% men, 40% women and 20% all genders (which can include men, women and non-binary people).

We’re also committed to removing gender pay gaps. Currently, our performance is:

• Like-for-like comparison – negligible (less than one percent).
• Employee gender pay gap – 9.9 percent for fixed remuneration (base salary + super) which is an improvement on 2022 (11.4%).
• Partner gender pay gap – 11.58 percent (women's average salary divided by men's average salary). This is a four percent improvement on 2022 (12.46%).

Read more in our WGEA Gender Pay Gap Statement

People with disability

We’re committed to giving people with a disability opportunities to thrive and be embraced in a barrier-free workplace. This is integral to our commitment towards building inclusive work practices.

Here are some of the ways we do that:

• In June 2024 we launched our second Access and Inclusion Plan. Developed in collaboration with the Australian Disability Network and drawing on internal feedback, our three-year plan is an evolution of the work started in our first plan and accelerates the removal of barriers impacting our people with disability. The new plan will focus our work on uplifting the career development of people with disability, improving the accessibility of our end-to-end recruitment processes, and is a multi-year approach to enhancing the accessibility of our technology and deepening our relationships with clients to progress disability inclusion across corporate Australia.
  
  Explore our Access and Inclusion Plan >


• EMBRACE@KPMG – an active team of engaged and passionate advocates who work to increase the visibility of disability and inclusive leadership, across the firm. Our partner sponsor and leaders are committed to advocating and creating positive change.
• Progressing our efforts to be an employer champion for people with disabilities – by enabling accessibility through workplace adjustments and technology updates.
• Neurodiverse recruitment – we partner with recruitment agencies specialising in neurodiversity to find, recruit, embed and support employees who are neurodiverse, ensuring we have the right systems, processes and support in place.

LGBTQ+ inclusion

Our commitment to LGBTQ+ inclusion is underpinned by KPMG’s Global LGBTQ+ Inclusion statement, signalling our collective commitment to drive progress. It includes meaningful and sustainable actions that create a safe, diverse and inclusive workplace.

Here are some of the ways we do that:

• Pride@KPMG – our employee network for LGBTQ+ employees and allies has been going strong for over 10 years. Pride@KPMG provides opportunities for LGBTQ+ people and allies to connect and learn through regular events like IDAHOBIT and Wear it Purple as well as fundraising activities for community organisations such as Black Rainbow and QLife.
• The Pride for Women Network through Pride@KPMG is committed to raising the visibility of LGBTQ+ women.
• The Trans and Gender Diverse Network is committed to creating better workplace support for trans and gender diverse people.
• Leading with Pride – our talent development program available to managers and above who identify as LGBTQ+. This 6-month program focuses on providing authentic leadership skills to help create the LGBTQ+ KPMG leaders of tomorrow.
• KPMG Gender Affirmation policy – provides leave and benefits for trans employees who are affirming their gender as well as information for leaders and colleagues about how to support someone who is affirming their gender.
• ACON’s Pride in Diversity program – as a founding member we have participated in the Australian Workplace Equality Index for many years, a benchmarking tool for LGBTQ+ inclusion in the workplace. Since 2022, for the past 3 consecutive years, KPMG has been awarded Gold Employer tier in the AWEI.