Inclusion, Diversity and Equity
Ethnicity
We empower our people to thrive with us.
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By ensuring our firm is inclusive and reflects the wider society we work within, we’re able to deliver the best possible service for our clients and communities and create a positive working culture within our firm too. Our thriving Employee Networks play a vital role in empowering our people to bring their whole selves to work as the more we understand each other, the more inclusive we can be.
Aalia Ahmed, Co-chair of KPMG UK Muslim Employee Network
Commitments and recognition
We’ve committed to increasing our firm-wide ethnic minority representation to 25% by 2030.
We’ve committed to increasing our firm-wide black heritage representation to 10% by 2030.
We’re a signatory of the BITC Race at Work Charter – a campaign for race equality in the workplace.
Where we are now
Ethnic minority colleagues firm-wide / 30%
1-Oct-22 spot count
(FY21: 28%)
Ethnic minority Partners / 14%
1-Oct-22 spot count
(FY21: 12%)
Ethnic minority graduate and apprentice joiners / 39%
FY22
(FY21: 35%)
Black heritage new experienced hires / 8%
FY22
(FY21: 7%)
These figures are based on those that have declared this information to us (83% of employees).
Our ethnicity action plan
Fairness in our systems and processes
We're working hard to increase the ethnic diversity of our teams at all levels of our firm and monitor our progress closely against targets. We have committed to redoubling our efforts at every level, to push harder for faster and more significant change in our firm. To do this effectively, we need to be transparent about our pay gaps too. We have voluntarily published our Ethnicity Pay Gap since 2017 and in 2021, published our Black Heritage Pay Gap for the first time too (based on April 2020 data).
Our collective voice
We convene and collaborate with a number of external organisations to drive change in this area. We are represented on the BITC Race Equality Leadership Team, Black Leaders Network and CBI BAME in Tech group. Our leaders are also CBI Change the Race Ratio Ambassadors. As a firm, we have signed up to the BITC Race at Work Charter, as well as the Charter for Black Talent in Finance and the Professions.
Leadership and culture
A number of our leaders have been recognised externally for their role in supporting and championing Ethnic minorities. Our Chair Bina Mehta and Richard Iferenta, Vice Chair, and sponsor of KPMG’s African and Caribbean Network, were listed in the 2022 EMpower Top 100 Ethnic Minority Executive Role Models and our Chief Executive Jon Holt, was recognised in the 2022 advocates list. Additionally, John McCalla-Leacy, Partner and UK Head of ESG, won the Black British Business Awards in the professional services category.
While we’re committed to creating an inclusive culture within our firm, racial discrimination is sadly something many of our ethnic minority colleagues still face in their everyday lives. We actively listen to their experiences both inside and outside the workplace to help shape our approach and action in this area. Our senior leaders, including our Chief Executive and Chair, take the time to speak to our networks too. We also host events that encourage open conversations on this topic, challenge misconceptions and educate colleagues on the actions they can all take to support in this area.
In 2022 we launched our 15th employee network, the South Asian Network, which aims to support and celebrate the rich heritage and cultural diversity of our South Asian colleagues. The network provides a discussion platform that aims to raise awareness of the challenges its members face, celebrate key milestones throughout the year through engaging events, and provide personal and professional development support.
While we’re committed to creating an inclusive culture within our firm, racial discrimination is sadly something many of our ethnic minority colleagues still face in their everyday lives. We actively listen to their experiences both inside and outside the workplace to help shape our approach and action in this area. Our senior leaders, including our Chief Executive and Chair, take the time to speak to our networks too. We also host events that encourage open conversations on this topic, challenge misconceptions and educate colleagues on the actions they can all take to support in this area.
In 2022 we launched our 15th employee network, the South Asian Network, which aims to support and celebrate the rich heritage and cultural diversity of our South Asian colleagues. The network provides a discussion platform that aims to raise awareness of the challenges its members face, celebrate key milestones throughout the year through engaging events, and provide personal and professional development support.
Black Lives Action Plan
At KPMG UK, we want everyone to feel they can come as they are and reach their full potential, no matter their background. The murder of George Floyd triggered an outpouring of emotion across the globe, and it led to much-needed conversations about policing, societal inequality, social justice, fairness and institutional racism. As a firm we reflected on the experience of our Black Heritage colleagues in order to understand where we could make improvements and provide additional support to level the playing field.
On 18 June 2020, we launched our Black Lives Action Plan (BLAP) focused on five areas to amplify the voices and experiences of Black Heritage colleagues in our workplace.
We committed to at least doubling our Black Heritage population in leadership positions by 2022 and to do more to engage and retain our Black colleagues and ensure they join and progress through our organisation equitably. We have surpassed the targets set for 2022 and set bold and ambitious 2030 targets for Partner and Director representation. One year on, we’ve made positive progress against both of those targets.
We’re using dedicated resources, education, leadership and accountability to continue to drive our Action Plan forward, and the concept of allyship is critically important to this. Over 1,200 people in KPMG have signed up to our Black Lives Allyship Programme, since its launch in July 2020, which pairs people together to mentor, sponsor and learn from each other. Our third cohort is set to launch in January 2023. Through our allyship programme we’ve supported 41%* of the Black Heritage enrolees to gain a promotion in that time. Building on this success, we launched a Cross-Company Allyship Programme, which opens the opportunity for KPMG and client mentors and mentees to gain experiences and access networks from outside of their own organisations.
Our Black Heritage Talent Insight Programme is aimed at students of Black Heritage, who can gain insight into the work of KPMG, build essential networks, develop their professional skills and gain the opportunity to be considered for graduate positions.
We are also proud to be part of the 10,000 Black Interns programme. From Summer 2022, we have offered a minimum of four weeks paid work experience, training and development aimed specifically at students of Black Heritage. We also host an annual KPMG Black Entrepreneur Awards, which aims to inspire, accelerate and celebrate success among Black Heritage entrepreneurs. And through our involvement with other broader initiatives, such as our voluntary work through the Prince’s Trust, we help improve educational opportunities and outcomes for disadvantaged young people, including those from Black communities.
Our new collaboration with Black Young Professionals Network is an exciting opportunity for our colleagues to help empower Black professionals who want to develop their career in one of KPMG’s capability areas, by sharing their experiences and professional insights.
Meanwhile, KPMG’s African and Caribbean Employee Network continues to be a welcoming and supportive community empowering those of Black Heritage to achieve tangible personal and professional development goals and create impact outside of KPMG in the wider community.
Following its successful implementation two years on, our team won the large business award category at the Black Talent Awards in recognition of our accelerated efforts to execute progress on the Black inclusion agenda.
*Analysis of our Allyship programme completed in January 2021.
