I was one of the many lucky individuals laid off from KPMG US Advisory last October. I was catching up with one of my former colleagues earlier and learned that at least 10 people have recently been hired to the group that I was let go from, ranging in levels from associate all the way up to director.
Now, the message that was preached to all of us plebes back in September was that the layoffs were business-related as a result of COVID-19—loss of clients, lack of new work, etc.—so you would think they wouldn’t be doing any kind of new hiring for some time. It seems not only did KPMG immediately hire to fill those vacant roles left by us deemed no longer wanted, but they actually increased the headcount in my former group. Learning about this just left me completely disgusted, but it was not at all surprising.
Day in and day out the KPMG leadership cockroaches talk up the importance of ethics and taking the moral high ground, but of course don’t you dare for a second believe they practice what they preach. At the end of the day, they have no conscience. They don’t care about the employees’ well-being or the fact they may have families to support. They only care that you are busting your ass to the fullest and kowtow to every client in order to fill their pockets with Benjamins. They are just filth. Leave it up to KPMG to destroy people’s careers and livelihoods in the worst economic year since the 2008 Great Recession under the guise of a pandemic. It should leave everyone sick to their stomach.
I trust that the scum at KPMG will get what’s coming to them from a higher power. I am happy to leave that hellhole behind.
Anonymous former KPMG Advisory employee
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ooooo bitter, low performer gets replaced and cries. Working world is hard. Pope is catholic. Next.
@HardWork, then tell people they’re low performers and put them on a PIP. Don’t push them out en masse and blame Coronavirus or something.
I saw agree and so typical for KPMG.
US firm is a basket case of mediocrity, dragging down the network. Insular in its approach, somehow thinking it rules the globe, despite KPMGI being an English company with a Dutch head office. Whole member firm should be on a PIP.
Besides which a PIP is a courtesy to allow you to try and rescue your poor performance into something worthy of clinging on to your job. You’re already close to out the door, why prolong the agony?
The list of people that were laidoff raises an eyebrow. 93% of those laidoff were over the age of 50. I don’t think these people were laidoff because of low performance but because most of them were considered high earners according to KPMG. I’ll leave it at that.
KPMG always does this… Happened to me back in 2008 as a staff 1 (barely there a year)… Partner now at a competitor…
The upside to being laid off from Big 4 right now is that 90% of accounting firms have been having massive staffing shortages for the last 10 years. Anyone with experience should be able to get rehired in a hot minute and will probably work about 25% fewer hours if they play their cards right. And if they go to industry, they won’t take a salary cut. Consider this a blessing in disguise.
“US firm is a basket case of mediocrity, dragging down the network.”
That could be because of the Deferred Prosecution Agreement KPMG has had with the DOJ since 2005.
Knowing about the DPA probably leads a lot of potential quality hires to consider another one of the Big Four (or another accounting firm or another employer entirely), thus there may be a slow inexorable decline in quality because of it. But because of the decline in quality / the mediocrity (as evidenced by instability / mass lay-offs, potential age discrimination suits, loss of GE as an audit client, as well as recent PCAOB insider scandal), the US government may be unlikely to agree to easing off the DPA for the foreseeable future.