Inclusion, Diversity and Equity
Ethnicity
We empower our people to thrive with us.
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An inclusive workforce that is reflective of our people, clients, and the diverse communities in which we live and work is critical to our success as a firm. Underpinning this we must build a welcoming culture where everyone feels safe and empowered to bring their true authentic selves to work and feel valued for our unique contributions and perspectives. This provides the strong foundation for the quality service and outcomes we deliver for our clients. Our Employee Networks support the Firm’s IDE objectives by creating safe spaces for our people to celebrate the things that make us unique, share more about those differences with the broader firm and find the points of commonality with the hope of educating our people on the lived experiences of others, eliminating biases and fostering allyship.
Jade Taylor, Co-Chair of KPMG UK African and Caribbean Network (ACN)
Commitments and recognition
We’ve committed to increasing our ethnic minority representation at partner level to 20% by 2030.
We’ve committed to increasing our black heritage representation at partner level to 5% 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 / 32%
1-Oct-23 spot count (1-Oct-22: 30%)
Ethnic minority Partners / 13%
1-Oct-23 spot count (1-Oct-22: 14%)
Ethnic minority graduate and apprentice joiners / 41%
FY23 (FY22: 39%)
Black heritage new experienced hires / 11%
FY23 (FY22: 8%)
These figures are based on the total headcount as at 1 Oct 2023. This includes those that have undeclared responses, and those who have chosen to respond with “prefer not to say”.
Find out more about representation across our firm here. You can also find out about our 2023 Pay Gaps and how we’re addressing them here.
Our ethnicity action plan
Equitable experiences 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). For the first time this year, we’re also expanding our pay gap reporting to include additional ethnicity categories, alongside our existing ethnic minority and Black heritage pay gaps. The additional groups – which have been determined in line with new government-recommended methodology – aim to recognise the nuances of different ethnic groups and the varied experiences they have within our firm.
Our broader impact 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, and Black Leaders Network. Our leaders are also 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.
Ranked #1 in the Top 10 Outstanding Employer in the Investing in Ethnicity Matrix 2023
Accountable leaders A number of our leaders have been recognised externally for their role in supporting and championing ethnic minority inclusion. Our Chair Bina Mehta was listed in the Empower Hall of Fame and Richard Iferenta, Vice Chair, and sponsor of KPMG’s African and Caribbean Network, was listed in the 2023 EMpower Top 100 Ethnic Minority Executive Role Models and our Chief Executive Jon Holt, was recognised in the 2023 advocates list. Richard Iferenta was also listed in the Black Powerlist 2023, and Dinah Cobbinah, (FCCA) Partner FS Intelligent Process Transformation, won Senior Leader of the Year for the Professional Services at the 2023 Black British Business Awards. Our senior leaders, including our Chief Executive and Chair, take the time to speak to our networks to better understand the challenges faced by our ethnic minority colleagues.
Inclusive environment 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. 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.
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.
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 1,000 people in KPMG have signed up to our Black Heritage Allyship Programme – now on its fourth cohort – which pairs people together to mentor, sponsor and learn from each other. From the first and second cohorts alone, 32%* of the Black heritage colleagues have gone onto gain a promotion within 12 months of completing the programme. 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. In December, we launched the third cohort of our Cross-Company Allyship programme. The programme currently has over 1,000 mentors and mentees from 40 organisations across the UK, Netherlands and Canada.
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 also host an annual KPMG Black Entrepreneur Awards, which aims to inspire, accelerate and celebrate success among Black Heritage entrepreneurs. One former winner received KPMG mentorship and went on to establish an award-winning business now valued at over £12m. And through our involvement with other broader initiatives we help improve educational opportunities and outcomes for disadvantaged young people, including those from Black communities.
Our 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, 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. We have also been recognised by Business in the Community, and we won the Investing in Ethnicity’s ‘Outstanding Employer Award’ in 2023.
*Analysis of our Allyship programme completed in June 2023.