“A business’s core competitiveness relies on having the most motivated talent, which is the primary resource for driving innovation. At KPMG China, we believe in putting our people first and creating an inclusive, diverse and equitable culture, which fosters the mutual growth of our people and the firm. In the post-pandemic era, we continue to promote an innovative work model guided by the Future of Work initiative, allowing our people to choose more flexible and agile working styles that enable them to be their best."
Our people strategy has made us an employer of choice
With over 15,000 people across China, KPMG China values and invests tremendously in our people. Our people are the most important assets. We therefore employ a people-oriented strategy that is built around our aspiration to become an employer of choice, while creating an inclusive and agile workplace where our people pride themselves to be part of.
This strategy includes attracting and retaining the best talent, promoting an inclusive, values-driven culture, empowering our people to do work that matters and delivers impact, and cultivating an environment that enables and inspires them to thrive. All of these strategies support the firm in becoming the most trusted and trustworthy firm in the marketplace.
Basecamp programme
The Basecamp programme is KPMG China’s new talent pool system that provides internship experiences for students across their whole academic journey, opening up internship opportunities during their earlier years of studies. The programme welcomes all university students from different majors, who can apply for roles in different teams within KPMG China. This new programme model aims to provide a more rewarding, structured and attractive internship experience to secure the best talent in the market.
People experience – Future of Work
Everyone Agile
The pandemic has shifted conventional ways of working into new norms. In FY22, we progressed forward with the Future of Work journey, which focuses on improving ways of working to help our people thrive in the new normal.
Everyone Agile is a key Future of Work initiative which is essentially our agile way of working that is fit for purpose and for the future. It provides a choice for our people across the firm to deliver the best outcome, while remaining focused on their well-being and creating an equitable culture. We established guidance and developed various forms of communication to support the initiative and to drive consistency across the firm.
The Everyone Agile framework encompasses three aspects:
- Agile Dress Code - providing guidance for employees to dress for the day that is fit for purpose, as well as meet appropriate standards and expectations
- Agile Location - a 3-Hub model where our people can work either at a client site, office or home based on business needs
- Agile Hours – providing flexibility for our people to arrange work hours while maintaining high standards of business outcomes
Global People Survey
The Global People Survey (GPS) is an annual survey to collect our people’s feedback about working at KPMG. It provides leadership with insights on what drives employee engagement, as it measures how well our leaders engage, enable and energise people to demonstrate desirable behaviours and live up to our purpose and values.
In FY22, we carried out different firm-wide and functional GPS actions based on feedback collected in the previous year, covering key areas such as work enablement, recognition culture, people experience and talent development.
Through the GPS survey and listening to our people’s thoughts, we will continue to improve our all-round experience and make KPMG a greater workplace to thrive in.
At KPMG China, we are committed to building an inclusive, diverse, equitable and trust-based workplace where our people can bring their authentic selves to work, and feel valued for their unique contributions and perspectives.
IDE approach
On a global level, KPMG has introduced the Inclusion, Diversity and Equity (IDE) Collective Action Plan, which sets out the actions that member firms need to take in order to drive IDE across our global organisation.
Aligning with the IDE Collective Action Plan, KPMG China has established an approach to build an inclusive and equitable workplace where our people feel valued and respected for who they are and for the work they do.
In 2022, our IDE strategy focused on three key areas – gender, generation, and embracing differences, which supports LGBTQ+ inclusion, mental health and disabilities inclusion, among others.
As an equal opportunities employer, KPMG China has made our respect for IDE an integral part of our people strategy, especially for our recruitment, training, career development and employee promotion procedures.
KPMG China’s IDE policy embodies our firm’s principles to creating an inclusive workplace culture, with zero tolerance for all forms of discrimination against any persons. We are also committed to ensuring that our selection process is merit-based and depends on business needs. Individual backgrounds and characteristics such as gender, gender identity, marital status, religion, race, nationality, disability, family status, and sexual orientation do not construct any biases that may influence our hiring decisions.
In addition, we have zero tolerance for sexual harassment. To prohibit any form of sexual harassment, we have an anti-sexual harassment policy in place that clearly states the procedures and measures for handling complaints and protection against retaliation.
Educating our people on IDE topics and its significance for team members and leaders is fundamental to our IDE agenda. To that end, we create opportunities and development programmes to raise our people’s awareness on inclusivity in the way they express their ideas, work and collaborate with other colleagues and clients.
Next Generation Council
One of the ways through which KPMG engages our people to unleash their potential and make their mark is through our flagship IDE programme – Next Generation Council (NGC) — a future leaders' programme.
The first cohort of our NGC started in April 2021 and comprised around 20 members across different functions and regions who graduated in September 2022. During these 18 months, the NGC members made their mark and acted as the firm’s young ‘think-tank’ advising on the firm’s strategic initiatives, and provided our leadership with fresh views and implementation ideas. The success of this programme will pave the way for its continuation to engage more young and talented individuals.
Pride Month
In celebration of Pride Month, KPMG China joined the third annual Global Pride Summit organised by KPMG International on 23 June 2022. Individuals across the KPMG network shared their personal stories around the key themes of safety, self-identification and allyship.
To demonstrate our support for our people to come as they are, KPMG member firms from the Asia Pacific region joined hands in organising a special reflections event in the same month, where people from across the region shared their views on how to create a more supportive and welcoming workplace for the LGBTQ+ community.
In 2022, KPMG International launched its first Global LGBTQ+ Inclusion Statement as a testimony of our promise of driving progress together. The statement includes meaningful and sustainable actions to create a safe and inclusive environment for people from the entire spectrum of sexual orientations and identities.
Health and well-being
Health, social and economic issues have taken their toll on people's physical and mental health during these uncertain times, which is why work-life balance and wellness topics have become paramount to our people’s holistic well-being.
Health and safety policies and guidelines
Our principles and requirements for different health and safety issues, such as fire precautions, office safety and indoor air quality, are stated in our Staff Handbook. We have acquired ISO 45001:2018 certification for our occupational health and safety management system, which demonstrates our commitment to providing a decent, healthy and safe workplace for our people.
In particular, the Health and Safety Guidelines, which are available in our Everyone Agile Guidebook and Staff Handbook, shed light on considerations and guidelines for staying healthy and protecting our people from perils and safety issues when working outside of the KPMG office. These guidelines cover topics ranging from workstation arrangements, electrical and fire safety to emergency and crisis management.
Wellbeing App
As part of the Future of Work initiative, KPMG China launched the Wellbeing App in September 2022, as it looks to promote work-life balance and enable our people to thrive at work in their best condition – physically, mentally and socially. This one-stop platform offers diverse services and functions. Our people can sign up for well-being events and interest groups, as well as gain access to our firm’s well-being resources.
Ongoing well-being support
To improve our people’s health and well-being, KPMG China has provided ongoing support and resources for our people anytime, anywhere:
- Well-being channel: An informative portal that shares practical mental well-being tips, workplace ergonomics, immunity management and more.
- Coronavirus portal: A dedicated information platform that offers the latest news and guidelines in response to the COVID-19 situation in China. It includes travel guidelines, quarantine requirements as well as recommendations on well-being in uncertain times.
- Training resources: A series of mental well-being 101 videos that helps our people cope with mental health conditions.
- Employee Assistance Programme (EAP): A 24-hour support hotline that is available for professional and confidential counselling services.
- Interest groups: Our myLife wellness initiative offers both physical and virtual activities to support our people’s mind, body and social wellness. Over 40 staff-led interest groups are funded by the firm to run different activities, ranging from football, hiking and photography to parenting activities.
- Wellness campaigns and activities: Every year, we raise awareness of mental health and work-life balance during the World Mental Health Awareness month. Year-round wellness activities, such as yoga and massage sessions, are also organised.
- People-centric workstation design/provision: We have introduced people-centric furniture and equipment, such as adjustable tables and monitor arms, benefitting our people’s physical well-being and productivity.
Continuous learning
Our vision has always been to bring out the best in our people, and we firmly believe that learning and development are the key to drive quality results. To better help our people realise their full potential and make sure they are equipped with the necessary skills for the future, we provide access to a variety of learning opportunities and resources such as professional qualification training, leadership programmes and others.
Strengthening our people’s ESG knowledge
Training and upskilling of ESG knowledge for our people is key to our business today and tomorrow. Supported by our global ESG strategy, we aim to equip our people with professional ESG knowledge, empowering them to drive positive change for our firm and our clients.
In May 2022, as part of our ESG curriculum, KPMG China launched the first firmwide ESG e-learning programme 'ESG 101 — Foundations' to all KPMG people. The programme provides a solid foundation of ESG priorities and solutions and introduces our firm’s internal and external ESG initiatives. More learning opportunities are being offered, helping our people to build their ESG knowledge to support our clients with their ESG commitments.
Leaders Developing Leaders
At KPMG China, we believe that everyone in the firm can thrive and lead, regardless of their role in the firm. A great example of this would be our Leaders Developing Leaders programme. This new talent development programme aims to develop high performing talents across the firm. Through inter-generational mentoring and group learning activities, our talents develop new skills, perspectives and networks to help them grow and thrive with one another.
“At KPMG China, we believe in excellence - we never stop learning and improving. We invest in unique learning and development opportunities to enable our people to thrive with us at KPMG."
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