Beyond Benefits: Pioneering Strategies for Employee Mental Health and Well-being

This episode is presented to you by Sandy Torchia, Vice Chair of Talent and Culture at KPMG US. Sandy leads all aspects of our firm’s talent strategy, including positioning KPMG to attract, develop, and retain the best people. She develops and implements initiatives that advance the firm’s growth strategy by unlocking the power of our more than 36,000 professionals and improving employee and partner experiences.

With Mental Health Awareness Month sparking important conversations, I’ll be diving into employee mental health and well-being initiatives and the innovative ways companies can cultivate a healthy work environment and culture that helps people reach their ambitions with balance, recovery and respect.

What we’re hearing: In the years since the pandemic, business leaders have focused on improving how their organizations support the mental health and well-being of their employees. According to our recent 2024 CEO Outlook Pulse survey, 74% of U.S. CEOs are prioritizing more initiatives focused on mental well-being such as digital wellness solutions, mindfulness seminars, resilience workshops and coaching sessions.

These efforts, however, represent just the tip of the iceberg in ways that companies can help their employees. While certainly not comprehensive, here are three areas that are top-of-mind for me today. This is an evolving journey for everyone, so I invite you to share your comments and ideas.

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 #1 Going beyond benefits—considering innovative initiatives to restructure work and prevent burnout before it happens.

Most of our waking hours are spent in the workplace. How our workplace, colleagues and day-to-day projects make us feel may impact how we experience life.

The bottom line: Supporting employees who are burned out is one thing—proactively preventing burn out before it happens is another. This requires companies to re-examine how their people work together to serve clients and customers.

What we are hearing:  In an effort to promote well-being and address potential burnout among employees, 30% of CEOs are exploring new organization-wide schedule shifts such as a 4-day or 4.5-day workweek, per KPMG’s 2024 CEO Outlook Pulse survey.

What we’re doing: We've long embraced the concept of proactive rest, building rest directly into our approach to work. In addition to providing and encouraging PTO, we have two firm-wide breaks with nine consecutive days of time off in the summer and winter in which the entire firm shuts down, enabling people to truly take time off and disconnect.

However, we aren’t stopping there. Our KPMG Audit practice has been focused on taking a big bite out of the traditional busy season by reimagining how audits are conducted. In recent years, we’ve implemented new processes to pull more audit work forward, gain efficiencies, and reduce the burden of the traditional busy season, improving the quality of our work.

By the numbers: Compared to 2020, during the traditional busy season, the average weekly hours worked on audit engagements declined by 18%. Moreover, the percent of people working no hours on the weekend went from 20% to 40% of our practice. Less hours during the busiest time of the year and more weekends off, plus better audits, is the better experience we strive to deliver.

My colleague Scott Flynn, KPMG U.S. Vice Chair of Audit, said it perfectly: “We needed to take some of the top off the mountain in January, February and March. Younger people think about work-life balance differently than we did when I was starting out, and so we’ve tried to meet our professionals where we think they need to be met. Also, my work at 10pm or 11pm is not as good as my work at 4pm and 5pm. Especially not in January and February.”

Yes, and: Our Audit practice also piloted an “energy check-in” program to target employees at risk of burnout using self-reported data and internal systems to gauge which employees may be running out of steam. When an employee’s chargeable hours, PTO and time spent in meetings is higher than expected, their manager gets a prompt to conduct a check-in. We are scaling this pilot across our firm.

Why it matters: Our people are corporate athletes, and they need to not only be physically ready to do their jobs, but mentally ready as well. If we make these investments in them, we are ultimately going to have higher-performing teams.

What’s next: Much has been written about the anxiety surrounding widespread adoption of GenAI in the workplace. However, as GenAI becomes increasingly integrated into professional environments, a case could be made for a new narrative.

• Per KPMG’s 2024 CEO Outlook Pulse survey, CEOs are prioritizing initiatives to improve the mental wellbeing of their workforce and prevent burnout – and many are encouraging employees to use GenAI as a tool to relieve stress.

A paradigm shift: Thoughtful organizations measure good work in outcomes, not hours, and reward good outcomes with more meaningful, career-enhancing experiences. GenAI is accelerating this shift, empowering employees to turn their productivity gains into more rewarding opportunities.

• At KPMG, our aIQ program led by Stephen Chase is amplifying the firm’s efforts to prepare for an AI-powered future and aims to enable 100% of employees to integrate AI into their everyday work by the end of 2024, supporting them with everything from coding and data analysis to drafting emails. Importantly, all 36,000 employees have begun their AI learning journeys with enhanced Trusted AI training required for all.

Yes, but: Business leaders are concerned about employee AI reluctance and anxiety, with more than a quarter of CEOs anticipating that employee resistance will be a top challenge for deploying AI across their enterprises. Broad access and hands-on experience are key to driving overall adoption by building up confidence in AI skills.

#2 The importance of culture to promote healthy habits and destigmatize mental health conversations

It is vital for leaders to destigmatize mental health by welcoming employee feedback, implementing differentiated well-being initiatives and encouraging their people to spark a dialogue on mental health.

Driving awareness: At KPMG, we are regularly creating both virtual and in-person forums to increase awareness of our baseline mental health offerings that our people can tap into when they need extra support—including 10 free virtual counseling sessions for every employee as well as access to innovative apps like Zeera, RethinkCare for neurodiversity support and Shatterproof to support those struggling with alcohol or substance misuse.

Destigmatizing the issue: These forums regularly include dialogue covering topics that range from tips for building resilience to handle common life stressors to deeper conversations around a colleague’s personal journey with recognizing and managing more serious mental health challenges.

What’s next: For those seeking to speak 1:1 with a licensed therapist in a more convenient setting, we are also piloting free and confidential on-site counselling sessions in our New York, Montvale, Dallas and Chicago offices (thanks to the leadership of local KPMG Office Managing Partners Yesenia Scheker Izquierdo; Arun Rajappa; Kim Kesler; and Travis Hunter, CPA, MBA), which have seen great feedback to date.

Looking ahead: These efforts not only build on initiatives we already have in place—like our week-long, company-wide breaks in July and December aligned with school calendars—but also with those we are evolving, like trainings to equip managers at the frontlines.

• Zoom in: Goldman Sachs recently made headlines in this space, implementing a new mandatory training program for all managers and executives focused on mental health, with guidance on how to identify concerning behaviors, appearances, or attitudes in employees and ways to respond.

• Zoom out: This effort is connected to a broader trend of empowering managers to address these issues. In fact, 56% of CEOs report their organizations are implementing trainings for managers to address well-being concerns and burn out more effectively among their direct reports.

#3 The role of purpose in not only supporting our communities but improving employee well-being

There’s another, often-overlooked approach that has a proven impact on creating a happier and more productive workforce: encouraging and enabling employees to help others.

Corporate impact programs—and volunteering specifically—have been shown to increase employee retention, well-being and engagement, while also providing employees with skill building and development opportunities. Gen Z talent in particular believe that having a sense of purpose at school and at work is their most important driver of happiness.

• By the numbers: An internal KPMG survey finds that 89% of our people who volunteer through KPMG programs say they gain a sense of purpose through volunteering, while 80% report that they feel both more connected to the firm and that their shared experience helped nurture new and existing relationships.

• Yes, and: Illustrated in our 2024 KPMG U.S. Impact Plan, skills-based volunteering, such as pro bono engagements and nonprofit board service, empowers employees to donate work-time hours for charitable activities that foster professional growth and create collaborative relationships.

The takeaway: By providing opportunities to engage in activities that drive relationship-building and instill a sense of purpose, employers also have the power to help cultivate work friendships that were traditionally built through daily in-office interaction. And the power of friendship at work should not be underestimated.

Combining work, wellness, volunteering and friendship during a fundraising walk for the American Heart Association. With Tony Torchia, Rusty James and Anthony Luscia.

In the news

• Check out this Today Show segment on LinkedIn’s Top Companies for 2024, with LinkedIn Editor-in-Chief Dan Roth discussing the top companies for growth, success and perks—including well-being benefits. KPMG is spotlighted for efforts to align its firm-wide breaks with the school calendar.

• "We're using technology to do work faster, better, different,” says KPMG Human Capital Advisory leader Felicia Lyon. Lyon spoke with Business Insider about whether CEOs can get more out of employees with innovations like AI and the 4-day workweek versus a full-time return to office: CEOs Calling Workers Back to the Office Are Focused on the Wrong Thing (businessinsider.com)

• New approaches that encourage employees to prioritize rest and recovery will be critical in our “always on” work culture—particularly as Gen Z continues to enter the workforce—and reimagining sabbaticals is one idea: Gen Z helps fuel rise in sabbaticals (Axios).

• With more companies moving to a hybrid work environment, it will be important to find new ways to foster a sense of connection and belonging—two cornerstones of mental well-being. One company is paying employees to hang out. Read more in HR Brew:  This company pays its employees to hang outside of work (hr-brew.com)

• KPMG’s UK office is hiring ex-prisoners after a “very positive” two-year trial. The move is a major financial boost for the government, which is trying to encourage more big businesses to recruit prison leavers to help cut reoffending. Read more here: KPMG to recruit more ex-prisoners after pilot scheme.

Make the Difference

Watch as KPMG US Chief Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Officer Elena Richards leads a panel discussion with Business Resource Group leaders Braden Mark (Interfaith BRG), Joe Kwon ❤📖🎙 (Asian Pacific Islander BRG), and Mahmoud Khedr (Middle East North Africa BRG) on how they normalize the conversation around mental health within their diverse cultures and communities.

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