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
Apr 30, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

The people are the best to work with

Cons

The hours are long and lots of meetings depending where you sit in the org

2.0
Jun 17, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

You get to work with an awesome, highly resilient group of local peers in the advisory practice. The KPMG brand still holds value, but the internal team dynamics have become incredibly fractured.

Cons

We have outsourced 80%+ of our Risk Advisory work, leaving onshore seniors with massive gaps in their experience. As a manager, I am stuck doing senior-level work because I typically have only one or zero local seniors or associates on my teams. The best leaders have already resigned because this model prevents actual management and mentoring. Also, it might take you 30+ years to become partner in Risk Advisory, if at all.

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