Company: KPMG
Date: 2009-10-14
Overall rating: 1/5
Employment status: current

KPMG tough times = lousy place to work
Pros: KPMG can be a great opportunity for recent colllege grads who are looking for audit, tax or consulting opportunities.  The work life balance at KPMG has been a big plus, although recently the option for working from home 1 or 2 days a week has been withdrawn for IT employees.
Cons: Unfortunately tough times have led to: multiple rounds of layoffs within IT, bonuses are non-existent and salary raises are rumored to be frozen.  Flexible work options like working from home 1 day a week have been cancelled.  All training was cancelled and no one is allowed to take any training courses.  Departmental and team meeting budgets were eliminated - so no teambuilding activities or even lunches anymore.  Smaller perks like the annual Thanksgiving turkey give-a-way and summertime ice cream giveaway were eliminated.   Morale is awful and rumors of continued layoffs in Jan or Feb of 2010 will likely keep employees on edge.  

Aside from the current economic climate and effects on KPMG, the overall IT climate is focused on outsourcing US jobs as a strategic initiative.   Frequent re-organizations have led to overall slowdowns in any tactical or strategic projects, as well as focus management more on empire building/saving.  All in all, I would advise prospective employees to wait 2+ years for things to settle down and for business to get better, hopefully leading to a return to a normal business climate internally at KPMG as well as to more material rewards i.e bonuses and perks.