KPMG Romania: An expert career architect

Retaining people and attracting new talent are the main priorities for KPMG in 2023.Simona Podgoreanu, HR Director at KPMG Romania and Moldova, highlighed the core tenets of the company’s HR strategy and told us how the company manages to attract and retain talent on this highly competitive market.

How would you define your HR policy?

Our HR policy has 6 pillars that help us retain our people and attract new talent, and they are all equally important: focus on employee wellbeing; remote & hybrid work; performance management; recruitment & onboarding; compensation and benefits; and employee development and training. Our industry is known for its lack of balance between the personal and professional life, and it is our top priority to have the right working model for our people to feel cared for and understood, by investing in mental health programmes, flexible work arrangements, and employee support systems which are designed together with a dedicated internal working group. Remote & hybrid work have become the norm for KPMG and we have built the right technology and infrastructure to support this way of working. In addition, we’ve had to move away from traditional performance management systems and towards agile performance management. The system is based on goal-setting, continuous performance monitoring, establishing and monitoring objectives & key results, and the suppression of biases (such as addressing the perception that remote employees are less involved than those in the office). We have updated guidelines for recruiting and hiring, including revised job descriptions, recruitment channels, interview processes, and background checks. Additionally, a comprehensive onboarding process has been designed to speed up integration. Furthermore, we have revised our compensation and benefits structure in order to attract and retain top talent. Last but not least, rapid advancements in technology and automation are starting to create a skill gap in the workforce, so we are prioritising upskilling and reskilling programmes.

What were the main initiatives the company dedicated to its employees last year?

In 2022 we refined existing initiatives and started new ones aimed at increasing employee retention by boosting the level of engagement, confidence, personal and profesional development, mental health, and wellbeing. We had great results (above 80 percent for Trust, Engagement, and Growth—the 3 annually monitored indicators in our Global People Survey). Redefining the Millennial Board structure as a NextGen Board, conducting the Stress Index Survey to measure and monitor our people’s stress levels, new management programmes, and learning accelerators for newcomers are just a few of our key initiatives.

What is your strategy in terms of attracting and retaining talent?

First, we want to better communicate our strong employer brand. We have highlighted our unique differentiators, such as solid career development, training opportunities, innovative, complex, and impactful projects, a friendly and collaborative environment, and an intrapreneurial spirit. We make a priority of empowering people to make their mark and engage in doing work that matters, so the sense of purposeful work runs across all our programmes and our internal and external communication. We’ve also developed a competitive compensation and benefits package and provide opportunities for growth and development. As the professional services industry is constantly evolving, KPMG constantly invests in the latest technology and innovation. And finally, we emphasise work-life balance by offering flexible work arrangements, including remote work or flexible schedules, and we encourage managers and teams to take time off to recharge.