KPMG reviews

- Contract: 1-year contract which is supposed to "automatically" turn into permanent employment after 1 year. Contract renewal is supposed to be offered (written!) latest 3 months before expiry. I got numerous verbal confirmations from partners but no written contract until the day I resigned! In addition, the extension was only offered for 1 year and when asking about it, I was told not to complain since other people only got 6 months offered! - Salary: Unequal payment for same level: I entered the company as experienced hire and was offered a low salary which I was willing to accept for 1 year (see below: salary). Salaries of lower-performing peers who were "KPMG-homegrown" exceeded mine partially by 40%! - Salary cuts / no increase, a quick decision by board. - Staffing: Experienced hires have a hard time getting staffed at projects since selection is based on your internal network and not on your skills&capabilities. Peers consider you to be competition and are not showing a welcoming culture. - Partnership model: Partners are not collaborating but competing w each other. This means that a partner is rather willing to staff an unsuited member of his own team than taking one from the "neighboring" dept even though he/she might be much better suited for the role. - Fresh juniors / interns are being "tricked" into staying w KPMG by false promises - Bad sales are blamed on bad economy, and competitors (other Big 3) are permanently talked badly about. However, competitors that do better are never mentioned. - No streamlining, i.e. no standard high quality delivery to clients but strongly depends on people at project.

Everything starts from the top and trickles down. The IT department is seen as a line-item expense on the balance sheet, not as an enabler of opportunities. If you are not part of the "management boys club", then you are a mere minion. Management definitely lacks leadership and people skills. Management only cares about themselves and how they look to their "clients" (the partners'). Looking good means saving money and maintaining a lean operation. Employees are burnt out - too much to do, never enough time, unforeseen issues always arise, very little (if any) planning, "just get it done and worry about it later" attitude, static/unreasonable timelines, lost headcount is rarely replaced. If something wrong happens, someone is going to get burned for it. Displacement of responsibility (i.e. blame) is common. It is no surprise no one wants to take responsibility/ownership of anything. No transparency. Poor communication. No one ever knows what's going on. Very little opportunities to move up. Very "top-heavy" (management:employees ~ 1:3). Do not foster a "promote within" mentality. Employees are resources that are easily disposable/replaceable. Mentality with technology is so risk averse that it actually moves backwards.