Gender equality

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Gender equality continues to be a strong focus for our leadership. Our firm’s transformational targets will see equal female representation at every level of our organisation by 2030. As a network, we’re dedicated to supporting this change and focus our efforts on helping to guide and develop talented women at KPMG. We also use our community to voice and address key challenges and barriers, leading activity around topical issues such as menopause, fertility and women’s safety.
KPMG UK Women’s Employee Network (KNOW) chairs

Commitments and recognition

We’ve committed to having 40:40:20 firm-wide representation by 2030. The target requires us to have a minimum of 40% women and 40% men in the relevant population. 20% is flexible and recognised the moving nature of our firm, while setting parameters for us to stay within.

We’re a signatory of the HMRC Women in Finance Charter and the Tech Talent Charter. We signed up to the HM Treasury Women in Finance Charter in September 2017 – a commitment by HM Treasury and signatory firms to promote gender diversity and work together to build a more balanced and fair industry. We publish our progress annually and remain on track to meet our 2030 targets.

We’ve been recognised in the Times Top 50 Employers for Women for 12 consecutive years.

Where we are now

Females firm-wide / 49% 1-Oct-22 spot count (FY21: 50%)

Female Executive Committee members / 55% Jan 23 (Sep 21: 43%)

Female Partners / 28% 1-Oct-22 spot count (FY21: 26%)

Female graduate and apprentice joiners / 50% FY22 (FY21: 54%)

Find out more about representation across our firm here. You can also find out about our 2022 Pay Gaps and how we’re addressing them here.

Our gender equality action plan

Leadership and culture We have been named in the Times Top 50 Employers for Women for 12 consecutive years. Our chair Bina Mehta was listed in the HERoes Women Executives List 2022 and chief executive Jon Holt was recognised in the HERoes Advocates list.

We’re also making great progress against our 2030 targets, with an increase in female representation at senior levels of our firm. 55% of our Executive Committee and 44% of our Board are female, and three out of our four capabilities are also led by women.

And we’re doing more to build a more inclusive and supportive culture for women, as well as empowering our people to drive change in our business. To further improve women’s wellbeing in the workplace we introduced free menstrual products across our UK offices, following an initiative driven by some of our colleagues.

Fairness in our systems and processes We analyse data around promotions and progression to make sure they’re proportionate. Nearly half (48%) of all our promotions across the business this year were female. We’ve also put processes in place to challenge the business, and we ensure our policies reflect current trends in relation to topics such as menopause and women’s representation.

Our collective voice KPMG has become co-sponsors of the FTSE Women Leaders Review (formally the Hampton-Alexander Review), which is an independent, business-led framework supported by the Government, which sets recommendations for Britain’s largest companies to improve the representation of Women on Boards and in Leadership positions.

We're represented on groups including Women in Tech, Women of the Future, Council for investing in women entrepreneurs and Women on the Wharf. KPMG are also the Global Lead Sponsors of Women Corporate Directors. And, we've signed up to HM Treasury's Women in Finance Charter and the Tech Talent Charter too.

Talent From a recruitment perspective, we've ensured that every job advertisement uses gender neutral language and explicitly states that all roles can be performed flexibly. We also aim for a gender balance across our graduate and apprentice intake, which we achieved with 50% females in our 2022 cohorts. One of the ways we support this aim is to ensure our interviewer and assessor pool is gender-balanced, whenever possible.

Our external recruitment efforts are supported by dedicated female-focused partnerships with organisations such as STEM Women, IT's Not Just for the Boys and Women in the City Afro-Caribbean Network. We also have dedicated university events, society sponsorships and course targeting that is female-focused too.

In areas that have historically been male dominated, such as Deal Advisory and Technology, we run specific Insight Programmes. And to support progression of women in the firm, we have a number of dedicated initiatives including personal development programme GROW and our award-winning IT’s Her Future programme.

KPMG's Network of Women (KNOW) also provides invaluable support, helping to celebrate and promote gender balance, and provide opportunities for colleagues to share experiences and gain guidance on professional development.

In September 2022 we entered a year-long sponsorship of the Women of the Future Network, part of the Women of the Future Programme founded by Pinky Lilani CBE. The platform provides a series of initiatives for successful ambitious women across the UK, allowing them to come together, share experiences and build their own networks.

We also offer coaching and resources to support parents/carers before and after returning to work, and throughout their child's life. And shared parental leave and time off for parents undertaking fertility treatment or adopting via surrogacy.

Rachel Hopcroft, Partner and network sponsor, says “I am so delighted that KPMG UK is sponsoring the Women of the Future Network this year, helping bring together talented women across the UK. The relationships we build as we progress our careers are vital, and the Women of the Future Network provides this platform to over a 1000 brilliant and talented women”

Encouraging women into Tech: ITs her Future

Launched in 2015, the award-winning IT’s Her Future programme is dedicated to tackling gender diversity within Technology at KPMG.

“Women make up 48% of the UK workforce but only 17% of the technology workforce. This is exactly why programmes like IT’s Her Future are so important, not only for organisations like KPMG, but our clients and wider society too.” says Laura Verlander, Development Lead for ITs Her Future.

Where we are now

5 KPMG member firms have now adopted IT’s her Future
95% female job offers in Technology are accepted (+59% points from 2015)
44% of Technology promotions were awarded to women in 2022 (+15% points from 2015)
42% female headcount in Technology in 2022* (+16% points from 2015)
70% of female interviewees in Technology cite IT’s Her Future is cited as a reason for joining the firm

Laura adds, “We have come a long way since the inception of IT’s Her Future, but we still have a number of internal challenges and external influences we want to overcome to become pioneers of change for women in our industry.”

What’s next?

Building on the success of the programme to date, the focus now turns to increasing its reach. Some of the new initiatives include supporting Director and Partners to make the transition to business leader through executive-level learning with the University of Cambridge, an Ally to Advocate programme for senior male and female Directors and Partners, as well as an Empower the next generation programme aimed at junior levels in tech. KPMG are also working with female coding bootcamp, Black Codher to provide more focussed support for Black Heritage women.

“By increasing inclusion within technology, we can build equitable technologies of the future which will benefit us all” adds Laura.

KPMG’s Menopause Policy Launch

At KPMG, our aim is to create an open and inclusive environment where our people truly feel the menopause is not an issue that needs to be hidden and can talk about it openly without hesitancy or fear of embarrassment.

“We want our colleagues to feel confident in asking for support and any accommodations so they can continue to be successful in their role, and it’s important that our line managers and colleagues understand what the menopause is and can confidently have positive conversations to support colleagues experiencing menopause” says Charlotte Carter, Director of Culture, Engagement and Wellbeing.

In October, KPMG launched a new Menopause policy, which sets out the support available for colleagues before, during and after the menopause. From 1 January 2023 all colleagues have access the Bupa Menopause Plan as part of KPMG’s Private Medical Insurance offering. This provides staff with a 45-minute consultation with a menopause trained GP, personalised care plan and subsequent follow up appointment in addition to 24/7 access to a menopause trained nurse.

Charlotte adds, “We recognise the menopause as a workplace issue and are taking a number of steps to address it and provide the necessary support for our colleagues. As part of World Menopause Day, we held a series of Menopause speaker events to highlight the importance of talking about menopause in the workplace, early menopause, shared experiences, the associated challenges and lifestyle changes we can make to have a more positive menopause experience.”

Our internal Wellbeing page on Women’s health sets out information about the menopause, early menopause, common myths explained and how we can help and we have also set up Line Manager Menopause training to further support our colleagues. This includes a conversation guide to support with conversations both in and outside the workplace, and CIPD guidance for line managers to support Performance Managers, Engagement Managers or line managers in their conversations and response.

Enhancing gender diversity in Financial Consulting

Launched in 2018, RaiseYou is an award winning, outcomes-focused Diversity & Inclusion programme supporting KPMG UK’s Financial Services Consulting practice. It is a 12-month programme that provides career development support to a selected group of colleagues with diverse characteristics, with the aim of creating to create an inclusive and diverse environment with inspiring leaders and an empowered pipeline of high potential diverse talent.

RaiseYou focuses on a series of practical interventions, delivered in conjunction with UNIDA, a specialist diversity and inclusion consulting firm. This includes bespoke 1:1 and group mentoring, a calendar of developmental-focused events and an extensive programme of work to address specific career blockers identified by female and minority ethnic colleagues.

Noeleen Cowley, founder of the RaiseYou programme and Partner in KPMG Financial Services says, “When I launched the programme there was a lack of awareness around the barriers some women were facing in the sector. We wanted to help them overcome these, so they had an equal opportunity to progress and succeed in senior leadership roles.”

Since its launch, RaiseYou has supported over 180 colleagues to achieve their career ambitions, with 100% of shortlisted candidates in the 2022 Senior Cohort going on to achieve a promotion that year. When asked at the start of the programme, only 28% of participants had a formal career sponsor in place, but this had increased to 93% by the end.

RaiseYou has been recognised by the Financial Services industry, winning the Women in Banking and Finance award for Best Diversity and Inclusion Innovation in November 2022. KPMG has also recognised it as being a key driver in helping the firm increase female representation and create a more inclusive culture, with Bina Mehta, KPMG UK chair commenting that RaiseYou has been “instrumental in shifting the dial on gender equality at KPMG.”

Now in its fourth year, the programme continues to shape the career journeys of talented female colleagues and has since been expanded to support colleagues from ethnic minority backgrounds. The ambition is to build on this success and expand the programme across both the UK firm and global KPMG network, as well as increasing both alumni and client engagement to build a community driving diversity and inclusion across the firm and wider financial services industry.

Mita Dave, Programme Lead and Partner in KPMG Financial Services, adds “The programme has supported so many women at all levels - seeing these women grow in confidence and take charge of their personal and career goals has been enlightening and rewarding. Leadership is stepping up, taking accountability, and gaining tangible results – why? - because of RaiseYou’s contribution.”

Evolving for equity: Taking an intersectional approach to gender equality

As individuals, our identities, backgrounds and circumstances are multi-faceted. To be effective in championing inclusion, we must therefore tackle it in a way that recognises these differences.

“At KPMG, intersectionality is embedded at the heart of our inclusion, diversity and equity strategy – this essentially means that we actively look to reflect the different experiences of all women in our approach, which can include everything from differences in age or background, to lifestyle and beliefs.” says Megan Smith, Inclusion, Diversity and Equity Manager leading on Gender.

Investing time in listening to colleagues and using data and insight can help inform what today’s workforce of women need from organisations.

“Our approach as a firm is constantly evolving. We respond to what our colleagues and data tells us, but sometimes, it’s also influenced by changes in attitude in wider society, key events or topics just becoming more openly discussed in the public space” adds Megan. “For instance, a recent survey of our colleagues highlighted that disabled women were struggling the most with balancing caring responsibilities and work. This is something we can now address with a more targeted approach.”

Some great examples of how we’re putting intersectional insight into practice include our focus on supporting women experiencing menopause; the launch of our dedicated programmes for women of black heritage; updated policies, systems and training that are more inclusive for trans women; and a renewed attention on women’s safety, including and update to our Domestic Violence policy and training for managers.

“Reaching gender equality is not going to be a linear path, but we’ll continue to take the time to listen to our colleagues lived experiences, to help us get it right” says Megan.

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