Big resources, intimate ties give KPMG leg up

By the looks of it, Susan Rossi’s career was right on path. She was working for a large accounting firm in Boston and enjoyed the resources it gave her. But something was missing. She did not like feeling she was just a number.
So five years ago, Rossi joined the Providence office of auditing and tax services giant KPMG International, which operates in 148 countries and has 113,000 employees. And she found a home.
Rossi, an audit performance manager, is glad she made the move to KPMG.
“As a smaller office within KPMG, employees are connected with a worldwide organization,” said Pat Canning, managing partner at KPMG’s Providence office. “But the attention and mentoring they get from a company of our size they would not get at an office in Boston or New York City.”
There are several factors that contributed to KPMG’s 50-person Providence-office being chosen as a Best Place to Work, but Rossi said the No. 1 factor, in her opinion, is the people.
“There is a personal relationship here and you feel comfortable going to a partner,” she said. “We spend a lot of time together, especially during the busy [tax] season, so you get pretty close.”
The firm finds that while its staff is happy and stable, recruiting has become difficult. The key reason: An accounting degree now takes five years to complete instead of four; as a result, fewer people are getting into the profession.
Canning said the company brainstormed how to address the issue.
The result is a more flexible work environment and greater opportunities; they not only have helped bring people into the profession, but they have helped retain those already in the business.
One aspect of the flexibility initiative is responsive to mothers’ needs. “We have a number of working mothers on a flex week,” Canning said.
“We work 40 hours a week, but it doesn’t mean you have to get here at 8 and leave here at 5,” Rossi said. And in addition to the flex time, there is emergency day care available.
“Ten years ago, if you have a family, they’d say ‘She’s on the five-year plan and then she’s out,’” she said. “Here, you can have children, have the house and the family and will never be held back in your career.”
The 25 paid personal days, 11 holidays, a 401(k) match program and a weekend jump-start program that allows employees to leave at 3 p.m. on Friday during the months of July and August are also great perks.
KPMG addressed the issue of opportunity because KPMG staffers were leaving for other companies. “The thought within KPMG is to give them a multiple career experience within KPMG,” Canning said.
The company now offers employees an opportunity to work in other areas of the business and in different locations. For example, someone in the tax office of KPMG may want to try forensic auditing at a different office.
KPMG also has created global mobility programs allowing staff to travel to Ireland for six months, Australia for three months and China for two years.
“Our clients are becoming increasingly more global, and we are trying to create an environment that is interesting for employees and stay ahead of the curve,” Canning said.

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