Employee bonuses may be slashed if they don't attend diversity training, company says

LONDON (TND) — Accounting firm KPMG is prepared to slash British employees' bonuses if they don’t attend the company’s diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) training.

Participation, or lack thereof, in the training will impact an employee’s performance rating, the metric used when determining bonuses for employees at KPMG.

Completion of the module will be closely monitored and failure to complete the training will be flagged with performance leaders,” KPMG told The National Desk (TND). “While reasons for not completing will be considered on a case-by-case basis, it may impact a colleague’s performance rating, and by extension their bonus.

Previously, the company’s DEI training was not mandatory. The change was made to “reflect the importance we place on inclusion, diversity and equity,” the accounting firm told TND.

The move will impact 15,800 staff in the UK and comes roughly a year-and-a-half after the company’s former CEO was ousted after calling unconscious bias training “complete and utter crap.”

The training is slated to begin next month.

In its comments to TND, KPMG challenged reporting that the new mandatory training will focus on how discussing holiday ski trips, gap years and private schooling can isolate others.

What we’re actually asking is for our colleagues not to make assumptions based on such aspects. It’s not about anyone having to hide who they are,” KPMG told TND. “We flag that bias can be experienced by colleagues from a low socio-economic background, with examples of invisible barriers including assumptions made about: the types of holidays taken, the type of school you or your children attend, the sports you play or follow, or the personal connections you have within the profession.

Kevin Hogarth, KPMG UK’s chief people officer, said “building an inclusive, diverse and equitable” company is “the right thing to do,” and will benefit the company in the long term through “the wide range of experiences and perspectives our people bring to their day-to-day work.”

“We want all our people to come as they are, and that can only be made possible by challenging ourselves, confronting biases and listening and learning from each other,” Hogarth concluded.