Redefining the Future of Work

My first five months as Chair and CEO of KPMG were an intensive and valuable course in leadership. A global pandemic. Social and civil unrest. An economic crisis. We’ve learned many lessons. We’ve seen that businesses are resilient as extraordinary people continue to support one another, clients and customers, and communities with care and empathy. Uncertainty is the new normal, and we must execute on the activities and behaviors that are within our control. And when it comes to the future of work, this is our new reality – but we have a tremendous opportunity to redefine it.

Business leaders that embrace this new reality today can help their organizations and people grow and succeed in the years to come. Here are five opportunities to redefine the future of work as we prepare for 2021.

1)     Prioritize purpose, culture and values.

The pandemic – and social unrest – have hastened the call for societal change and added further scrutiny from stakeholders towards businesses and their leaders. And business leaders are reassessing their organizations’ values and purpose and placing a greater emphasis on employee engagement, ESG initiatives and corporate culture as key drivers of success and growth. According to KPMG’s recent U.S. CEO Outlook, 77 percent of CEOs said they need to re-evaluate their corporate purpose as a result of COVID-19 to better address the needs of their stakeholders.

I’ve reflected a great deal on my purpose as a leader as defined by KPMG's purpose: “Inspire confidence. Empower change.” I’m convinced that in this moment I need to flip that sentiment. I cannot expect to inspire confidence until I follow through on my commitment to empower change.   

I’m passionate about creating a best-in-class culture, with a significant focus on advancing equity and inclusion within KPMG and the broader profession. For this reason, I launched Accelerate 2025 on July 1 – the first day of my tenure as Chair and CEO. This strategic initiative will ensure that more individuals from underrepresented groups choose KPMG as their employer of choice, build careers at KPMG, and advance to leadership positions within our firm and within the profession. I’ve asked the 35,000 people who make up our U.S. firm to hold me personally accountable for that change.

2)     Meet the real-time needs of employees.

We all want to create environments where our people can grow and thrive. Listening to our employees and acting on that feedback is vital in the current environment. At KPMG, we’ve made a concerted effort to stay in touch with our people through regular check-in surveys and focus groups so that we can keep abreast of how they’re doing and find out what additional support or resources they may need. 

One of the things we heard loud and clear is that while work-life balance is a challenge for everyone right now, it’s a particularly significant concern for parents and caregivers due to hybrid and virtual teaching models and the availability of dependent care. Once we heard this, we went right to work to identify ways we can provide assistance, by enhancing some of our existing benefits programs and introducing new ones.

We also increased our emphasis on flexible work arrangements. We know that people achieve greater well-being and deliver their best work when afforded flexibility. Simple things like encouraging employees to build time into the workday to address personal matters and then holding them accountable to doing it can help. And formal flexibility options such as reduced work schedules, flex hours and sabbaticals are available for those in our organization who want to take advantage of them.

To actively promote flexibility, we equipped our leaders and managers with resources and guides to proactively engage in discussions with their teams to understand individuals’ work/life challenges and collaborate with them to find solutions. The intent was to remove any stigma that may have previously been associated with flexible work arrangements so that people see them as a viable option to help them manage their career, especially during such a challenging time.

3)     Envision new ways of working.

The world of work has changed. Remote work is increasing productivity in many instances. As a result, many business leaders are looking to optimize their real estate footprint and re-imagining how their office space will be used going forward.

I envision a hybrid model for our organization. Many of our people will work remotely going forward, and our office spaces will be utilized by our people for collaborating, brainstorming and co-innovating – especially with clients.

And with a remote workforce, being intentional about culture is crucial. We see KPMG Lakehouse, the firm’s learning development and innovation facility for our people, serving as a cultural home where our values and culture will be continually reinforced and experienced.

4)     Communicate – and do it frequently.

Throughout the pandemic, we learned that our people appreciated frequent communication –from the top, from their respective organizational leaders and from their managers. Expect this trend to continue. According to our CEO Outlook, 77 percent of U.S. CEOs said their communications with employees improved in the current environment. Employees want to know how the business is performing, if and how the business strategy might shift, and how they can contribute.

5)     Advance continuous transformation and improvement.

In this new reality, leaders are focused on continually evaluating, and – if necessary – refining their business strategy. Strategic actions include large-scale transformations of their businesses including operations and next-generation operating models, digital business models and revenue streams, and digital customer experience. U.S. CEOs told us in our recent CEO Outlook that the pandemic accelerated their digital investments across these various areas. In some cases, CEOs said progress accelerated by months. In other instances, they’ve leapfrogged years ahead of where they expected to be.

These transformations are imperative for short- and long-term viability and growth. Creating the appropriate digital ecosystem and working with the right business partners are critical for success.

The future of work is now. Business leaders that successfully redefine it will ensure their organizations and people thrive in the years to come.