Building a Transparent Communication Path

The benefits of a careful, individualized approach

A transformation that moves the tax function to a managed services provider can add significant value to your business but requires experience and compassion in navigating the emotional impact on employees. In part 1, we looked at how rebadging can turn that process into a win-win scenario for both your company and your employees. Here we look at communication, a key element in the transition.

Once the decision is finalized, your provider should work with you to build your communication plan. It’s best to be transparent, concise, and individualized. In our own approach, we work closely with your leader(s) to understand how each individual is likely to respond—as they know their people best. We want to understand who may have strong reactions or be a key team member that has influence over others. Together, we’ll hand-select a mentor for each individual on the team, ideally someone at KPMG with whom they already have an established relationship. Shortly after notification, the team members will be individually contacted with their detailed offer, followed by their mentor to talk through all their questions and concerns. We explain the reasons for the transformation, along with all the benefits to them. We stress that they’re still going to be a valued member of the team and describe all the opportunities they’ll gain access to.

After your team members have been notified about the change, it’s important to communicate to others in your organization. Your tax team invariably works with other functions, and they need to be aware of this decision to understand how they’re impacted and what to expect going forward. The change will likely be seamless from their perspective, however keeping them apprised promotes ongoing partnership and positive receptiveness with the tax function, which in turn helps the entire team. 

Focusing on your people helps everyone

As a result of this careful, individualized approach, we have close to a 100% acceptance rate. And while that’s not always possible, knowing that we really focus on your people should bring some sense of comfort to your leadership, while also protecting your company culture and improving the service we can deliver to you with insights from your own tax team. Most of all, it helps your employees.

And this is just the first step. We follow through on our commitments to the individuals and continue to support their career development and personal goals for years after the transition. We protect them from the broader resource pool within KPMG and measure their performance against other Managed Services individuals, but once they’ve stabilized within the KPMG infrastructure we continue to check in to ensure they’re getting the opportunities they need—whether that’s staying on their initial engagement or branching out for further growth. Because we firmly believe that a company’s most important asset is its people.