KPMG chief announces radical plan for parental leave

The professional services firm has lifted the bar in corporate Australia with a radical extension of parental leave for employees.

“I want us to build a firm that has choice and flexibility,” says KPMG CEO Andrew Yates.

The new head of the professional services firm KPMG has warned Australia cannot continue with rolling lockdowns and border closures for much longer.

Andrew Yates, who started as chief executive of the Australian arm on Thursday, said the shortage of skilled workers was a problem the federal government had to address, adding his voice to other business groups urging action by Canberra.

And in a move designed to increase workplace participation and build staff retention, Mr Yates announced a radical new policy of 26 weeks of paid parental leave for KPMG men and women, making it one of the most generous employers in Australia.

He said the government was looking at various initiatives to counter the skills shortage, including encouraging mature-age people into the workforce.

But he said vaccinations were also important: “I’ve had my first vaccine and I will be encouraging all KPMG people who are eligible to be vaccinated.”

A special effort in KPMG’s Darwin office had resulted in 86 per cent of eligible staff being vaccinated, and the firm was very interested in being able to deliver vaccines more generally to employees.

“I see it as inevitable that at some point, particularly when we get to the booster territory that we will offer it in the same way as we do the flu shot,” he said.

The 26 weeks of parental leave can be used by both parents, with no waiting periods, no tenure guidelines and no distinctions between primary and secondary carers.

At present KPMG offers 18 weeks leave for primary carers who have been at the firm for more than five years; but only 14 for those who have worked there for less than five years. The rates for secondary carers are three weeks and two weeks respectively.

The leave is part of a package of measures, including allowing staff to swap public holidays for cultural or religious days, and an extra day of leave for Indigenous employees for cultural or ceremonial activities.

Mr Yates said the parental leave policy — which applies to primary and secondary carers regardless of gender, and includes adoption, surrogacies and foster care children – was about improving participation as well as people’s home lives.

“Work life balance is hard to achieve these days and … I want us to build a firm that has choice and flexibility,” he said. “There’s no doubt that this has been a challenge for our female employees for a long time and female participation in the workforce is incredibly important, as is males helping with the rearing of their young children.”

Mr Yates said that 2020, during which the Big Four firms made extensive redundancies, had been challenging for morale and mental health of staff and he was keen to ensure KPMG represented “the best proposition in the market place” for employees.

The cost of the parental leave policy was a “secondary concern” and would “pay dividends by keeping our top quality people with us for longer”.

Under the new policy, compassionate leave has been extended to include those who experience pregnancy loss and miscarriage.

Mr Yates takes the top job as KPMG faces challenges in renewing staff following a decision in March to drop its age-related retirement policy that had expected partners to leave at 58.

He agreed it would be a challenge to continually rejuvenate the firm given more partners would now work past 58. But he said that while partners were contributing, age was irrelevant.

KPMG has also identified infrastructure sector as one of its priorities for growth and has set up a unit, Infrastructure, Assets and Places of 450 specialists led by senior infrastructure partner Stan Stavros.

Mr Yates said: “One of the ways that we will come out of Covid-19 is through investment in infrastructure, so I want to bring parts of our firms together to deliver a seamless, quality service.”