KPMG’s Wellbeing Blueprint: How life-stage support powers productivity and wellbeing
Who they are:
KPMG is one of the world’s leading professional-services networks, operating in over 143 countries and employing roughly 275,000 people. Their bread and butter, audit, tax and advisory, demands high pressure, particularly during peak seasons. That’s why KPMG places exceptional emphasis on a people-first culture, with wellbeing woven deeply into botheveryday life and global strategy.
The challenge: Stress, workload peaks, and diverse needs
Professional-services firms are notorious for long hours and “busy seasons.” When you’re supporting clients across industries and geographies, the stakes and stress, can climb fast. Layer on caregiving responsibilities and lifecycle changes, and wellbeing becomes a business-critical imperative. KPMG had to answer a complex question: How do we sustain performance while preventing burnout at scale?
KPMG’s Wellbeing Blueprint solution: a multi-layered, lifecycle-first approach
KPMG’s wellbeing strategy is structured around four pillars: mental health, physical health, financial wellbeing, and support for working families. That holistic approach is guided by listening to employees and leveraging expert insights and then translating that into tangible offerings.
🧠 1. Mental Health as a Core Business Priority
Nhlamu Dlomu, Global Head of People, states bluntly:
“Our success relies on our people being able to thrive and perform at their best”
KPMG views mental-health as both a moral duty and a means to boost productivity. They’ve integrated mental-health support globally, anchored by:
- Resources for Living (RFL): Counseling (10 free sessions per issue), chat, 24/7 helplines, resilience guides, and mindfulness content—utilised at double the vendor’s average.
- Mental Health Matters: A training programme offering continuing education credits designed to break stigma through peer storytelling and leadership share-outs .
These aren’t surface offerings, they’re deeply used and deeply valued.
🤝 2. Flex with Purpose + Hybrid Trust
KPMG empowers staff with their “Flex with Purpose” hybrid model. There are no rigid attendance mandates; instead, regional teams define a healthy mix between office, client site, and home work.
This is underpinned by another key commitment:
- Flattening busy-season strain: Through capacity planning, additional resource support, and time-off incentives, KPMG works actively to reduce emotional overdrive during audit peaks.
👨👩👧👦 3. Working Families = Work-family Support
Support is baked in, from early childhood through eldercare:
- Expanded backup care: doubled days available per dependent.
- Tutoring & academic support: discounted in-home/virtual help for school-age children.
- Paid parental and eldercare leave; flexible schedule arrangements.
These support structures reduce pressing life stressors and enhance focus during work, especially for back-to-school or caregiver-heavy seasons.
🩺 4. Preventive Care & Lifestyle Integration
KPMG goes beyond reactive care with preventive wellness:
- 24/7 virtual GP + behavioral health access, plus services like physiotherapy via Hinge Health.
- Regular health assessments, dental and private-care options.
- UnMind app & mindfulness masterclass series.
- Bike loan schemes & discounted gym memberships.
- Summer “Jump Start Fridays”: early finish Fridays to kickstart the weekend.
- Meatless Monday internal challenge: blending sustainability with wellbeing.
🌐 5. Evidence-based global strategy
In partnership with MindForward Alliance, KPMG is launching Wellbeing Implementation Guides for local HR teams, standardising best practice using structured toolkits and data-informed processes.
They’re also collaborating with Cambridge researchers to track the real-world impact of wellbeing programmes on productivity and health outcomes.
What we love
- Comprehensive approach: mental, physical, financial, family.
- Uptake is strong, RFL usage twice the norm.
- Preventive and life-stage support, far beyond EAP basics.
- Flexibility tied to autonomy, not micro-management.
- Data-driven roll-out supported by research and toolkits.
Takeaway for Leaders
KPMG’s Wellbeing Blueprint shows us that wellbeing isn’t optional, it’s the backbone of sustainable performance. It thrives when it’sholistic (not piecemeal), proactive (not reactive), and trusted (not policed).
Leaders in other sectors may ask:
- Do we support beyond illness, building habits and prevention?
- Are we helping parents and caregivers with real, scalable support?
- Is trust at the heart of our hybrid model, or strict rules?
- Could partnerships with research or community groups make our strategy smarter?
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Did you enjoy reading about KPMG’s Wellbeing Blueprint? For similar features, check out last weeks SPOTLIGHT FEATURE on Microsoft.
Written by Gina Buckney
Gina is a multi-award-winning international speaker, author, and founder of Your People Power. With a background in leading large-scale corporate transformation across FTSE and Fortune 500 companies, she now partners with organisations globally to improve workplace culture, wellbeing, and performance. Through YPP, Gina spotlights bold people strategies that help companies, and their people, thrive.