We’re a people business. When the best people build a career with us, we can all thrive: our clients, our colleagues, our communities and our planet. We want the world to think of our people when they think about KPMG.

People’s needs have changed, including their expectations of what work is, where it happens and what it gives them. We have an opportunity to improve what work is by delivering a more human relationship between KPMG and our people. It’s about understanding our people as individuals and respecting the fact that they care about their work but also their life as a whole.

Two people talking

Businesses are having to navigate complex tensions in the new world of work, and we’re no different. We’re thinking hard about the lessons learned over the past few years and what we want to be known for. We need to help ensure our people feel they are being actively heard, looked after and responded to while enabling them with the skills they need to develop exciting careers doing work that matters and thriving as individuals.

Nhlamu Dlomu
Global Head of People
KPMG International

Inclusion, diversity and equity

Our commitment: Have an inclusive culture built on trust

Inclusion, diversity and equity (IDE) underpins our Values and is vital to our Purpose. There’s an expectation from our people, clients and society that we have a robust IDE agenda — linked to Our Impact Plan and our strategy. Improving our employee value proposition to attract and retain the best talent also aligns with the “S” in our ESG commitments.

We strive to do what’s right, which means we must provide all of our people with the environment to help them be the best version of themselves — their true selves. What makes us different is what makes us stronger.

How we define IDE:

 
  • Inclusion is about belonging: We commit to creating a safe environment built on trust, where we can bring our authentic selves to work and feel valued for our unique contributions and perspectives.
  • Diversity is about difference: We commit to embracing and respecting the variety of unique experiences, cultures, identities and perspectives we collectively bring to KPMG.
  • Equity is about access to opportunities: We commit to standing against systemic barriers and biases. We help level the playing field and ensure everyone can succeed and thrive at KPMG.

IDE is core to KPMG: building teams with diverse views that represent the world we live in plays a key role in unlocking our full potential across member firms. It’s incredibly encouraging to see IDE principles being reflected across the globe. Given the trajectory we’re on, I can’t wait to see what we’ve achieved a year from now.

Kristine Remedios
Global Head of Inclusion, Diversity & Equity
KPMG International

Our Global Management Team is made up of 50% women, as of
1 October 2022.

These senior leaders are responsible for developing our global strategy with the Executive Committee of the Global Board and driving alignment across our KPMG firms.

Source: KPMG International.

KPMG's Global Management Team
From left to right: Carl Carande, Nhlamu Dlomu, Bill Thomas, Melissa Hardaway, Larry Bradley, Paul Korolkiewicz, Jane Lawrie, Anne Collins, Gary Wingrove, Lisa Heneghan, David Linke and Regina Mayor.

Download the full report to explore all our data.

Advocate for equal opportunity

Our commitment: Advocate for equal opportunity

Globally, we set an intention to have women in 33 percent of leadership roles by 2025, which includes member firm partners and directors. This will help drive our commitment to advancing gender equality across all KPMG member firms. This intention was driven from the bottom up based on the local aspirations set by our Reporting KPMG Firms through to 2025. As of the end of FY22, the representation of women in leadership across our KPMG firms sits at 27.4 percent, up 0.8 percentage points from FY21.

As we close in on 2025, we know there’s still work to do be done to close the gap. We’ve set ourselves a series of milestones moving forward to continue to support all of our member firms to attract, retain and advance diverse talent in order to accelerate progress and achieve our collective goal by 2025. To support KPMG firms in reaching our 33 percent goal, we’ve developed a process to track year-over-year progress, produced a guide to drive more impactful, inclusive and equitable practices in our talent processes, and renewed our focus on the KPMG Network of Women.

Another area of our focus moving forward is developing a recommended global approach to conducting analyses of pay by gender, based on leading practices, by level and grade accounting for factors that include performance, skills, geography, experience and length of service with the organization — to help increase our transparency, establish a baseline approach and inform recommendations to close identified pay gaps.

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Driving accountability

Established in FY21, the aim of our inaugural global IDE policy is to ensure we have a consistent method for IDE across our global organization by setting baseline requirements. To drive accountability in all KPMG member firms and measure how we are effecting change, we’re tracking progress against policy milestones.

One of these core requirements is for all KPMG firms to appoint an IDE lead. In FY22, all Reporting KPMG Firms appointed an IDE lead, which was critical to driving change.

In addition, we developed a set of dedicated global IDE goals to help all of our people understand expectations, build their skills and embrace actionable commitments as they progress through their careers at KPMG. This year, we’ve seen an uptake from the majority of Reporting KPMG Firms. Our people are embracing these goals, including them in their goal setting and engaging in activities that support their progress.

People of KPMG

Patricia Molino
KPMG in Brazil

As the co-chair of the newly created global chapter of the KPMG Network of Women (KNOW), I’m proud to be helping KPMG achieve its intention to have women in one-third of leadership roles by 2025.

KNOW is responsible for delivering a wide array of women’s programs and activities that support the advancement of KPMG women and help create a more compelling work environment. KNOW was founded to create communities of like-minded women (and men), enabling them to connect internally and externally with peers and colleagues, meet mentors and share career experiences. KPMG firms around the world lead their own chapters, and I led the KNOW chapter in Brazil from 2016 to 2021.

I’ve been at KPMG in Brazil for more than 25 years and was one of its first woman partners. One of the many reasons I’ve stayed at KPMG for so long is because of the opportunities I’ve had to shape a rewarding and purpose-led career.

As the co-chair of the global chapter of KNOW, I’m able to create opportunities for other women in KPMG firms across the world and help ensure women can succeed at the leadership level.

Photo of Patricia Molino

Creating safe spaces

Foster an educated, empathetic workforce

Our global learning programs focus on building allyship, listening to the voices of our people and educating ourselves on the perspectives and life experiences of others, with the aim of creating an environment in which all of our people can bring their best and most authentic selves to work.

In FY22, we continued to leverage technology to bring our people together to support one another with digital on-demand training, dedicated global learning summits and campaigns in recognition of the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (IDERD), International Day of Persons with Disabilities, International Women’s Day (IWD) and Pride Month.

  • Our people from more than 45 countries or territories have taken IDE e-learning courses from global inclusion experts Culture Wizard — a more than 60 percent year-over-year increase in participation.
  • We created an allyship guide to provide our people with the tools to help them be better allies to foster a more supportive workplace.

People of KPMG

Asma Hasan
KPMG in Canada

If someone asked me a few years ago if I wanted to be a partner, I would have quietly smiled and shaken my head. I would think to myself, “Me? A partner? I’m a woman of color, a proud Muslim who wears the hijab (head covering) and a mother to a little girl with autism.”

In my mind, I had the odds stacked up against me and simply didn’t believe people like me could become partners. It was something I didn’t dare dream of, let alone aspire to. Over the years, I had built up so many barriers in my mind, but thanks to the support of some amazing colleagues at KPMG in Canada who reminded me to believe in myself, I was able to move past them.

I was given the time and space to progress at my speed and forge a career that worked for me and my family while receiving the encouragement to take the next step when I was ready.

And now that I’m in this position, I’m passionate about helping others to break down their own barriers.

I co-chair the Salam Network, a group that connects the Muslim community at KPMG in Canada with each other, clients and the wider community. I co-founded the Special Family and Friends Network, which helps to ensure a supportive working environment for my colleagues who are parents and family members of children who are neurodivergent, and their friends and allies. And I mentor young professional women both at KPMG and beyond.

I’m gratified to say that I’m a partner at KPMG in Canada, where inclusive culture is in our DNA.

Measuring our impact

We measure progress consistently to help ensure we stay on the right path. We work together with KPMG firms to continue to expand our collection of global IDE data. In line with the objectives set for our IDE ambition, we’ve created an IDE Index to help us measure the impact of our work from quantitative and qualitative perspectives.

We’re pleased to see the FY22 results of our first IDE Index, which shows favorable overall IDE scores in each area. We look forward to building on this progress, which includes building additional metrics to measure the impact of the work we do.

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Inclusive culture built on trust

Measured by feedback from our people

80%

of respondents in our Global People Survey have an overall favorable view of IDE in our organization, up 2 percentage points from FY21.

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Inclusive culture built on trust

Measured by feedback from our people

80%

of respondents in our Global People Survey have an overall favorable view of IDE in our organization, up 2 percentage points from FY21.

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An educated, empathetic workplace

Measured by participation and feedback from our people in our global IDE learning summits

92%

of summit attendees surveyed said they felt more educated on the lived experiences of our people after attending.

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An advocate for equal opportunity

48.5%

representation of women in overall headcount based on partners and staff employed as of 30 September 2022, up by 0.1 percentage points from FY21.

Source: KPMG International.

Health and well-being

Our commitment: Protect the health of our people — both physically and mentally — and enable them to be effective and productive

Everyone deserves strong and accessible support, and we put our people’s physical and mental health first. We commit to protecting the health of our people, enabling them to be effective, productive and to thrive with us. We believe when we’re at our best, our best work happens, and that’s why we create opportunities that can help each of us achieve physical and mental health on our own terms.

In FY22, we reopened our offices and leveraged our digital transformation and learnings from the past two years to develop new work practices that align with our people’s desire for flexibility. All our largest member firms have adopted working models that provide flexibility between the office, client sites and home, with a focus on using time in each location in a purposeful way.

Feedback on the approach has been positive, with 84 percent of respondents in our 2022 Global People Survey having a favorable response to the question: “I can work where I am most effective to meet client, business and team needs.” We continue to listen closely to people across our organization as we experiment and learn. While flexibility can enhance well-being, it can also bring challenges in maintaining a healthy work-home balance, so we’ve provided training and support to help managers and their teams navigate these new ways of working.

Managing workload and creating sustainable work practices is a challenge that can impact well-being. We carried out a global review of workload, initially focusing on our Audit teams, identifying actions that could help create a long-term, sustainable people experience that supports well-being outcomes. We’ve launched a global framework centered around five themes — portfolio management, increasing capacity, process optimization, enabling culture and vision of the future — and are working with KPMG firms to activate this. We’re committed to implementing the recommendations across the organization.

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Case studies

Embedding well-being into workplace design,

KPMG in Singapore

KPMG in Singapore recently moved to a new office location, embedding the well-being of our people and new ways of working into its design.

It was an opportunity to reimagine what work can — and should — look like, both now and in the future. Our ambition was to design a workplace for the evolving needs of colleagues, clients and communities.

The new office was co-created with our people to support their preferred ways of working. It was designed to support hybrid working, be sustainable, flexible and resilient, drive greater learning and collaboration, and — most importantly — enhance well-being while at work.

The fit-for-future design came to life through a deliberate process to listen to the needs of our people, bringing them in at critical stages. We held surveys and focus groups before design or construction even began.

One of the key things we heard was the need for the move to be sustainable, and we’ve made that commitment by moving to a LEED Platinum building, among other carbon-friendly initiatives. For example, we launched a reduce, reuse, recycle program, including gifting previous office furniture to local charity groups.

When paired with meaningful hybrid work policies, the workplace helps facilitate adaptable, fit-for-purpose interactions — whether online or in person — for a sustainable future of work. The central clubhouse can easily convert from an event space for clients to a dedicated space for employee events or networking. As we grapple with ever-changing ways of working, social interaction and connection is something we all need.

KPMG in Singapore created a space intended to help everyone feel safe and able to be their best selves, while providing flexibility to personally own what new ways of working mean for both individuals and teams.

University of Cambridge collaboration,

KPMG International and KPMG in the UK

KPMG International and KPMG in the UK joined forces with the University of Cambridge to undertake research focused on understanding ways to improve mental well-being at work.

Using KPMG as a case study, the program will first look to discover how to correctly measure mental well-being, what works from an intervention perspective and understand the interrelations among mental well-being, productivity and the workplace. The program’s aim is to develop the foundations needed to rewire businesses and create environments that are conducive to promoting mental well-being as a first principle.

We will use the research to look at how variations in working scenarios — including across business types, locations and types of interactions in the workplace — can impact the mental health of a workforce and develop effective interventions that can be deployed to better promote and protect the mental health of workforces in the future. Trial and test interventions will be set up before opening up the findings to help make a difference, including to other businesses and policymakers.

Deepening our focus on the communities we serve

Analyzing the current state of disability inclusion

To support our disability inclusion efforts, we conducted a current state analysis of recruitment, retention and advancement for people living with disabilities in our Reporting KPMG Firms. Although we’re making progress, the outcome of our assessment will focus our collective efforts on continuing to expand our data collection, educating our people on disability inclusion language and digital accessibility, and working together with our disability employee resource group leads.

Our first LGBTQ+ inclusion statement

In collaboration with our Global Pride Network, we launched our first global LGBTQ+ inclusion statement. As a global organization, we’re committed to actions that promote LGBTQ+ awareness and making sure our people feel safe, recognized and heard. A key action from this statement is to support KPMG firms in appointing Pride Partner Champions to help address the challenges faced by our LGBTQ+ people. Pride Partner Champions are KPMG leaders aligned with their Pride Networks and responsible for championing their firm’s LGBTQ+ inclusion efforts inside and outside of the workplace.

Taking a stand against racial discrimination

We engaged professionals from around the globe in practical learning and actions through the IDERD actions-based initiative, where our people made more than 2,500 commitments to take a stand against racial discrimination. Topics included the importance of creating psychologically safe workspaces, challenging microaggressions and colorism.

People of KPMG

Photo of Jess Wood-Waikari

Jess Wood-Waikari
KPMG in New Zealand

I come from the Eastern Tribe of Ngāti Porou in New Zealand and am Founder of the KPMG Kiwa Mentoring Program.

The Kiwa network is a home and family for Māori and Pasifika colleagues at KPMG in New Zealand. The name Kiwa comes from the Māori name for the Pacific Ocean, Te Moana-nui-a-Kiwa, which represents the diversity of nations and cultures the ocean brings to the New Zealand firm. The network helps to drive KPMG in New Zealand’s aim to have a workforce that is culturally competent, is representative of the communities it serves and does meaningful work to fuel the country’s prosperity.

When I joined KPMG in New Zealand as a graduate, I was very aware of the obstacles facing Māori and Pasifika applicants. So, with my colleagues, I created a mentoring program designed to shed light on the application process for prospective Māori and Pasifika applicants, build their confidence to apply and — most importantly — build connections between students and staff to make KPMG feel more like a place Māori and Pasifika students could see themselves working at in the future.

The program not only gives us a positive reason to come together as Kiwa colleagues, but also has the greater purpose of giving back to the next generation of Māori and Pasifika graduates and growing the support given to talented young people from Māori and Pasifika communities as they move into their careers.

The Kiwa Mentoring Program has been running for five years, with four of the New Zealand firm’s national offices working alongside local universities and tertiary providers. It has graduated around 250 students, and I feel honored that just under 50 of those have joined KPMG in New Zealand as graduates and/or interns. I can vividly remember the first time my mentee was offered a job at KPMG, and I am so proud and excited every time a mentee joins our Kiwa family.

Case study

Bringing value through diversity,

KPMG in Japan

KPMG AZSA Officemate Ltd. (AZOM) is a subsidiary of KPMG in Japan and employs over 100 people (members), mainly with intellectual disabilities.

In Japan, a company that employs 43.5 people or more is legally required to ensure that 2.3 percent of its permanent workforce are people with disabilities. As a knowledge-based business driven by KPMG’s Values, KPMG in Japan wanted to create jobs specifically designed for people with intellectual disabilities who may not otherwise have had an opportunity to work in a knowledge industry. It also wanted to foster a diverse environment to support its growth.

AZOM members support the smooth running of KPMG in Japan in an environment that is suited to — and supports — their individual abilities. Members are engaged in administrative tasks that contribute to the efficiency of the Japanese firm, including helping set up for meetings, logging event feedback and graphing results, printing, binding, filing and shipping. Many AZOM staff members are also stationed at various divisions at KPMG in Japan, including its Audit and Advisory practices. Over time, the range of this work has expanded and diversified.

AZOM members are assigned a job coach who helps ensure they are comfortable in the workplace and make the most of their abilities at work. Upon joining AZOM, some members are also teamed up with a senior staff member who explains the work and is a ready-made point of contact for questions or concerns.

As AZOM grows, it will strive to continue to give its members a workplace where they feel valued, can develop and can gain social independence through employment.

Learning and development

84%

of our people agree they have “learning opportunities that help [them] develop skills to succeed in the future”

4% from 2021

Source: 2022 KPMG Global People Survey respondents.

Our commitment: Develop a continuous learning culture

Learning and development (L&D) is embedded in our Values, our brand and Our Impact Plan commitments. It equips our teams with the technical know-how, skills and ethical behaviors to best serve our clients, our colleagues and our communities. Member firms have invested significantly in continuous learning, including an average spend of US$1,049 and 63 hours of formal learning per employee in FY22, up from 51 hours in FY21.

At a global, regional and member-firm level, we’re evolving L&D to deliver a continuous learning culture through learning in the flow of work. We’re also pivoting from the narrow remit of L&D that tended to focus on formal training courses.

Our new learning approach adopts an enabling, value-adding definition of L&D that extends beyond the classroom to include on-the-job and just-in-time solutions, supported by a manager, mentor or coach. This encompasses learning in its broadest sense, growing our people’s capabilities, helping to skill and reskill with speed and agility, and ultimately allowing them to better respond to the complex realities of today’s world.

The investments we made helped us to increase our annual hours of formal learning per employee over the prior year. Looking ahead, we’ll move away from only measuring L&D success using investment figures, which don’t necessarily provide an accurate view of the effectiveness of learning solutions; instead, we’ll gather actionable, qualitative data on the benefits of learning solutions, as reported by learners and their performance managers.

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Our Impact Plan represents the collective environmental, social and governance commitments of independent KPMG firms, affiliated with KPMG International Limited. The data represented in Our Impact Plan is aggregated data from KPMG firms for the 12 months to 30 September 2021 unless stated otherwise. KPMG International Limited is a private English company limited by guarantee and does not provide services to clients. Where the terms “KPMG,” “firm,” “we” or similar references are used without definition, they are intended to refer to KPMG International Limited and the independent KPMG firms.

The financial information set forth represents combined information of the independent KPMG member firms that perform professional services for clients, affiliated with KPMG International Limited. The information is combined here solely for presentation purposes. KPMG International Limited performs no services for clients nor, concomitantly, generates any client revenue.

Throughout this webpage, “we”, “KPMG”, “us” and “our” refers to the global organization or to one or more of the member firms of KPMG International Limited (“KPMG International”), each of which is a separate legal entity.