Value created for our people

Our people are at the heart of everything we do, delivering high-quality and trusted results. In a world where technology and artificial intelligence (AI) are transforming the way we work, one truth remains: our people make the difference. We believe in creating an energizing and inclusive workplace where everyone feels supported, can grow and develop, and is able to make an impact. We are therefore investing in skills, collaboration, leadership, and adaptability – all of which are essential to meeting today’s challenges and preparing for the future.

Putting our Values First

We believe that living our values – Integrity, Excellence, Courage, Together, and For Better – is foundational. In a world of constant change, these values are our compass, guiding decisions and shaping behaviors. To strengthen our culture and become the most trusted professional services firm, we launched Values First, focusing on two critical goals: Clarity on Integrity and Courage to Address, while maintaining progress in Excellence, Together, and For Better.

• Clarity on Integrity. We choose a culture where we do what is right, because we know what is right – where “integrity” is not an abstract principle, but something that we feel and consciously integrate in daily decisions and practices.

• Courage to Address (“aanspreekcultuur”). We are building a work culture where addressing one another is not awkward or threatening but normal and expected – where “courage” means truly seeing each other, speaking up when we see things could be better, and supporting one another. It also entails the courage to receive feedback and other people’s perspectives, and be open to “see the point”.

We used the collective knowledge of our organization and external professional parties to implement various measures tailored to different groups and target areas. Leadership embarked on this journey with the active engagement of our Board of Management, Leadership Teams, and Partners and Directors through dedicated workshops and facilitated sessions focused on the two core behaviors. Based on reflections about individual and team behavior, they are moving forward to strengthen collaboration within teams, promote values-driven behavior in communities, and role model these meaningfully towards all staff.

The culture of our organization is shaped within our communities and through the everyday interactions we have in our teams. Through Values Dialogues, ethical dilemma sessions, and the integration of these dilemmas into Predictability, Teaming, and Open Communication sessions within teams, we involved staff from all functions. Our communities are supported by Culture Challengers, colleagues who embody our desired culture in their personal behavior and within their teams. These ambassadors of the KPMG culture and values help to improve the way we work and communicate by collecting and providing clear and honest feedback.

To evolve our strong culture, we are changing as individuals and as an organization (in our processes, learning, and communication). We have started embedding values-driven behavior into our performance cycle and onboarding processes. Goal-setting and year-end reviews now encourage values-driven goals, and we support our Development Managers in focusing on values in their conversations with employees. In 2025/2026, we will continue to “own the change and be the change” by embedding these behaviors until they become part of our DNA.

Empowering our people

The curiosity of our people drives us to explore new possibilities, with our growth mindset ensuring that we continuously learn and enhance our skills. We proactively support employees through upskilling in training programs, career guidance, and learning on the job. In a tight labor market, AI helps address workforce challenges, but the real solution lies in skills-based talent strategies and supporting employees in their transition, development, and future readiness.

At KPMG, progress is made with technology, but always “(em)powered by people.” We aim to offer challenging projects, close client contact, and programs for lifelong learning and skills development.

Empowerment also means creating an environment where everyone feels included, respected, and able to thrive. Inclusion, diversity, and equity (IDE) therefore remains a strategic priority. With four generations in the workplace, leadership requires empathy and compassion – hence our implementation of reverse mentoring and a Young Board Now to stay connected with younger colleagues. There is no “one-size-fits-all” approach, so we invest in what matters to each generation. This mindset is also reflected in our commitment to ensuring that our people feel included and supported in their work environment. We use our Global People Survey (GPS) results to raise awareness and provide IDE advice to business units. We provide training and facilitate dialogue sessions on unconscious bias, inclusive events, and inclusive recruitment. Based on GPS analysis, we identified IDE-related topics and collaborated with our employee resource groups (ERGs) in 2024/2025 to organize initiatives such as the Ramadan Challenge, Neurodiversity Network Launch, and International Women’s Day.

We provide more information on how KPMG manages workforce-related impacts, risks, and opportunities concerning working conditions, well-being, and engagement, and IDE in the Social chapter of our sustainability statement.

Accelerating personal growth with AI

In 2024/2025, we made significant steps in embedding AI in our market presence, across our services, and for our workforce. At KPMG, we emphasize that AI’s transformative power lies in its ability to enhance human expertise, boost productivity, and unlock creativity, rather than substituting for professional judgment or decision-making. Our objective is to transition professionals from being “operators” of technology to “collaborators” with AI. In doing so, we stress that trust and human oversight are essential to realizing AI’s value responsibly.

Putting AI in the hands of our people was a top priority during the year and will continue to be so in 2025/2026 and beyond. We accelerated the deployment of AI tools, fundamentally transforming the employee experience.

Here, we make a distinction between generic tooling for the benefit of all staff, function-specific tooling for Advisory and Assurance professionals, and expert tooling, such as AI, for programmers. We also rolled out aIQchat for all staff, our internal AI-powered chat assistant, designed to help KPMG’s professionals work faster and smarter by leveraging advanced language models such as GPT-4o and GPT-5. Part of the broader KPMG Workbench platform, it serves as a secure, enterprise-grade alternative to public AI tools, such as ChatGPT. M365 Copilot was rolled out to 70% of staff in 2024/2025 (100% by early 2025/2026), allowing our employees to work smarter in their Microsoft-enabled enterprise workplace. These steps make AI accessible and practical in our daily work.

We have put significant effort into raising awareness of the need for and expectations around learning and upskilling at all levels of our firm, especially when it comes to making people aware of the importance of safely adopting AI in their daily work. KPMG has accelerated AI adoption through a range of initiatives, including the roll-out of a comprehensive AI upskilling program. Our learning curriculum consists of a mix of face-to-face and e-learning programs for all staff, live webinars, and level-specific learning pathways, for example for Partners and Directors. During the year, we organized firm-wide prompt training sessions to help our people understand how best to use tools like aIQchat and events like AI Awareness Week to boost employee engagement.

We conducted an elective Digital MBA series for Partners and Directors, consultants, and senior managers, connecting AI technology developments to business needs. By installing a dedicated AI Ninja Change Network, we are connecting colleagues across functions, thereby driving adoption and enabling change management.

We have a duty of care to ensure every employee becomes AI ready: prepared to adapt to the impact of AI on their current and future roles. The work of (especially) junior associates and consultants is changing. By actively deploying generative AI in our audit and advisory processes, we reduce repetitive tasks and create more room for critical thinking, analysis, client interaction, and professional judgment. As well as making our profession more attractive, smarter, and socially relevant, this empowers our people to focus on creating value for themselves as individuals and in connection with our clients. AI is an opportunity to future-proof the assurance and advisory profession, with reliability, ethics, and human judgment being crucial. To seize this opportunity, we are investing heavily in innovation and in training a new generation of professionals who are equipped to understand and critically apply AI.

Building on our future

Similar to many client organizations, we ourselves are also transforming our backbone functions within Central Services, formerly known as Business Services. In designing and executing the transformation, we focused on enabling excellence, innovation, and efficiency, empowering Central Services’ seven departments to deliver more value to internal stakeholders. Our new operating model will also enhance our business’s agility, resilience, and growth in the face of external volatility.

Our offices are also adapting to new requirements. Hybrid working is now the norm, with our people’s time split between home, client sites, and the office. In this new way of working, our offices serve as inpriring places to work and central hubs where collaboration is actively encouraged with clients, suppliers, and other visitors. To support this, we are renovating and redesigning our Amstelveen office to reflect how we work today and to align with our ambitions for tomorrow. This transformation goes beyond the physical space – it creates an environment that fosters productivity (collaboration and focus areas), connection (communal areas and hospitality experience), and creativity.

We have also designed the remodel with sustainability considerations in mind. As well as carrying out the project in line with WELL and BREEAM certification requirements, we are assessing all involved suppliers on their ESG performance, asking them to provide data on ESG criteria such as carbon emissions and social return on investment. Throughout the renovation, materials are being creatively reused: old desks have been transformed into acoustic panels, former countertops have become coffee tables, and LED lighting and smart- building technology are helping to reduce energy consumption. The remodel also delivers real social impact, with new roles created for a Syrian refugee and MBO students, and furniture reprocessed through social employment. Altogether, our HQ remodel is sustainability and social value in action.