Worst employer of my life: toxic culture - Consultant KPMG Employee Review

1.0
Apr 7, 2018
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

It might look good on a CV for future jobs in terms of demonstrating certain capabilities - but then again I don't want to work for an employer that respects KPMG's culture.

Cons

- Close to zero training whilst coworkers immediately talk at you in hundreds of acronyms and demand you should know everything already, such as internally-used acronyms that cannot be studied anywhere beforehand - the expectations are demanding from day one - on my first day I had been emailed the incorrect and late start time and when I arrived at that time I was told off for being late; - super frequent performance meetings - too many things to keep on top of simultaneously whilst being overworked (inefficient); - too many sellout, power-hungry coworkers; - fear-inducing culture that most of the staff sadly perpetuate through inauthentic and judgmental behaviour and comments to lower-ranked staff, whilst smiling, joking with and sucking up to the powerful/influential staff; - company claims to be committed to inclusion and fairness but this could not be further from the truth - they are just paying lip service to look good, it's for self- gain, not out of a robust genuine interest in ethics; - workload is unreasonably demanding and unevenly distributed; - vague communication when it comes to outlining tasks to be completed so you waste a lot of time figuring out how to define things and find the information; - I felt a sense of being accused of things I didn't do, without ever being invited to speak and when I did speak up I wasn't listened to; - lack of sense of community - people were in it for themselves; - lots of game-players who try to sabotage others in micro ways; - The most selfish company I have ever worked for - people are treated as disposable. I trusted very few people there after witnessing behaviours time and time again that didn't sit right with me. Very happy to have left them but it took time to recover from the experience.

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5.0
May 22, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
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Pros

Good place to start for sure.

Cons

Can be stressful and highly demanding.

4.0
May 7, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Great general benefits however not as good as it was when I first started at the firm 11 years ago. Firm used to provide better employee incentives but no longer provides. Employee experience all depends on who you report to and work with. Some have great experiences, while others are completely over-worked.

Cons

Let go during RIF. When I started with the firm back in 2015, RIF's didn't occur much but now has become the normal once a year at minimum at KPMG. You must be on top of you game now (high performance culture) otherwise can be let go at any moments notice. Unfortunately if you do amazing on your engagement work, doesn’t mean anything to leadership and can still be let go, especially at manager level and requires you to put many additional hours per week doing extra curricular (Business Proposals, Certifications, etc.).

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