Over the years, KPMG in India has always been committed to the advancement of women, their representation in the workplace across levels and functions, gender equity and equality, growth, and development, in every way.
Strategic Emphasis on Inspire Inclusion
This year, our emphasis is on driving success for our people by engaging in collective action to #InspireInclusion. Inspiring inclusion is not just a moral imperative; it is a strategic imperative that drives innovation, fosters resilience, and propels us toward sustainable success.
In our KPMG journey of 30 years and beyond, we are proud to welcome more women in leadership positions and across levels, through well-thought-out policies and programs, challenging gender biases, and making deliberate choices to enable the development, deployment, and growth of women colleagues.
We have constantly strived to help our people take cognizance of their biases and support them in understanding and practicing gender inclusion in the workplace as well as in their personal spaces.
Initiatives to Empower Women
Inclusion is at the heart of what we do at KPMG, our leaders actively champion inclusion and are committed to fostering a culture where we leverage the unique strengths and perspectives that diversity brings. Enterprises such as returning women programmes, agile work arrangements, robust leave policies, career pathing through various initiatives and trainings – are compelling more women to join us and find their own ways to thrive with us.
We enable our women colleagues with the choice and flexibility to work at their convenience, ensuring maximum flexibility, minimum constraints and focusing on results and performance, instead of time and attendance. Our council of women – “the KPMG Network of Women” – is a space for networking, mentorship and celebrating our women colleagues within the firm.
The council also actively works alongside our Diversity team to co-create offerings that matter for our colleagues. We fully understand our responsibility to ensure that women do not have to exit the workforce due to family or caregiving responsibilities.
We offer hybrid work arrangement to all colleagues, with the flexibility to work from home (WFH) for women colleagues who may require it due to medical reasons (self or immediate family member being unwell), child-care, personal responsibilities, etc. Another progressive option is our ‘Work-from-Anywhere’ work model – which they can enable after discussing with their managers. We do conduct regular Hybrid Work surveys to better understand the ways to improve the experience for our people and make appropriate arrangements.
We are fully committed to creating a more inclusive and supportive workplace for our people (including men) with young children. We offer 300+ day care centers to our people to choose from across locations, that best suits their work and personal needs. We cover 50% of the day care cost borne by our people.
In addition to the facilities for daycare centers, we also have strong leave policies that enable parents to take time off to fulfill their primary childcare responsibilities. While we build pathways to sustainability through innovative solutions, we must understand that there can be no sustainable development without gender equality and the two must be addressed together.
As an equal opportunity Firm that believes in building a culture of safety, we have the responsibility to create and maintain a workplace that is free of any forms of harassment or discrimination. Creating awareness about specific risks that could compromise safety, dignity and respect of an individual is vital.
We have always done this in an easy-to-understand, accessible way, by continuously reaching out to our people through communication and making the workplace a thriving one. We have created platforms for diverse voices to be heard, thereby creating a safe environment where our people are comfortable to speak up, contribute meaningfully to strengthening and also building our Firm for the future.
Conclusion
To achieve a more collaborative, cohesive, and inclusive culture, we continue to foster allyship unconditionally and encourage our people in achieving the same, so they reflect on what role does gender play in our identity and in our lives.
This is because we will only move forward and #InspireInclusion if everyone is aboard, and no one is left behind. Be it promoting their development and growth or support through various resource groups, we strive to continue to make the difference to the Firm, clients and each other, all of which will compel more women to join us and find their own ways to ‘thrive with us’.
