KPMG staff to get one afternoon a week off
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KPMG has told its 16,000 UK staff that they can knock off early one day a week over summer as the firm embraces flexible working in the wake of Covid.
The Big Four consultant is giving employees two and a half hours off each week until the end of August to support their wellbeing and allow them to "re-energise" after working on intense and stressful projects during the pandemic.
Workers will also be given an additional day off on June 21 - when the last of Covid restrictions are to be lifted and social distancing abolished.
Staff will be allowed to take the extra time off during either the morning or afternoon, any day of the week, with many expected to use it for an early getaway.
It comes as new boss Jon Holt seeks to boost morale following the acrimonious departure of his predecessor Bill Michael, who stepped down in February after telling staff who complained about working conditions to "stop playing the victim card".
KPMG is also switching to a permanent new regime that encourages working from home. It told employees on Wednesday that they will spend on average just two days a week in the office from June as part of a major shake-up.
The firm expects staff, including partners, to spend up to four days in the office over each two-week period, with the rest either at home or at client sites. Even when staff commute into work, they will not be required to stay for the full working day.
Kevin Hogarth, KPMG's chief people officer, said: "We are trying to shift what we use our offices for and embrace hybrid ways of working. We think the activities that should take place when people come together are not sitting at a desk or sitting in front of a PC completing work on their own.
"We want to focus the time that people come into the office on those things where there's real value in bringing people together: collaboration; problem solving; project planning; innovation and training."
The company will invest £44m in repurposing its offices for hybrid working, including removing desks, creating more meeting rooms and improving its technology.
Mr Holt added: "We trust our people. Our new way of working will empower them and enable them to design their own working week. The pandemic has proven it's not about where you work, but how you work.
"Our new strategy will enable our people to reconnect and test our new ways of hybrid working. This is all about flexibility – we'll continue to listen to our people and learn as we go."
The group's plans follow a consultation with staff, with three-quarters saying they are comfortable with hybrid working. The majority want to spend two or three days a week in the office, Mr Hogarth said.
KPMG follows rival firms, including PwC and Grant Thornton, in outlining plans for a post-crisis era in which home working will become the norm.
Last month, Grant Thornton said nine in 10 of its UK employees want to spend less than half the working week in the office when lockdown restrictions are lifted, while PwC told its UK-based employees that they will spend an average of two to three days a week in the office.
