KPMG Switzerland promotes flexibility, trust and career growth for employees

Flexibility with guardrails

KPMG Switzerland is pitching flexibility as a working model, not a perk. Its careers material says employees can use flex time, take additional holidays, work part-time even in higher-level roles, and go to 100% during busy season before dropping to a lower workload, such as 80%, between assignments.

That is a stronger message than the usual professional-services promise of “balance.” The firm is saying people can grow, take responsibility and still shape their personal lives, as long as delivery does not slip when deadlines, clients and peak periods tighten the screws.

Trust, but not less accountability

The clearest thread running through KPMG Switzerland’s public messaging is trust. The work-life-balance page says real balance comes from trust, flexible work models, remote-work opportunities and international assignments, with people coming first and careers still expected to move forward.

The firm backs that up with examples that feel closer to lived reality than polished recruiting copy. It points to colleagues who combine leadership and parenting, part-time work and fatherhood, international experience and family life, and remote work across borders. That matters in a culture like KPMG’s, where promotion cycles, performance reviews and the partner track all depend on steady visibility and delivery. The message is not that ambition disappears, but that ambition can be structured differently.

A partner quoted on the page says the firm offers strong framework conditions for taking on responsibility while also handling other priorities. Another describes the culture as both challenging and supportive. Read together, those examples suggest a familiar Big Four tradeoff: high expectations remain, but employees are given more latitude in how they get there.

Career growth without the old full-time mold

KPMG Switzerland also tries to make the case that flexibility and career progression can coexist. The page says clear structures, performance managers, mentors and team support help people navigate their careers. That is important in a firm where upward mobility often depends on proving you can handle more than your formal job description.

The most notable shift is that part-time work is no longer presented as something reserved for junior employees or career pauses. KPMG says part-time arrangements can exist even in higher-level roles, which is a meaningful signal in a profession that has traditionally rewarded long hours and constant availability. For consultants, auditors and tax professionals, that suggests the firm wants to normalize different working patterns without lowering the bar.

The wider tone is also telling. Rather than framing flexibility as a concession, KPMG Switzerland presents it as part of sustained performance. In practice, that means the firm is trying to make room for parenting, family commitments and outside obligations without asking employees to step off the advancement ladder.

Busy season still sets the tempo

The sharpest reality check is in the fine print of the flexibility pitch. KPMG Switzerland says employees can work 100% during busy season and then use paid breaks or shift to a lighter workload, such as 80%, when client demand is lower. That is a useful reminder that flexibility in professional services usually expands control over timing, not the elimination of pressure.

For people inside the firm, that is the real tradeoff. During audit season, deal deadlines or consulting delivery crunches, client service still comes first. The model gives employees more room to absorb those peaks and recover afterward, but it does not erase them. In that sense, KPMG is describing a more modern version of professional-services work, one that acknowledges the cycles instead of pretending they do not exist.

For workers trying to judge whether the firm can fit real life, the key question is not whether busy season disappears. It is whether the firm gives enough structure, autonomy and recovery time to make the rest of the year sustainable. KPMG Switzerland’s pitch is that it does.

A large, diverse workforce behind the message

The scale behind that message is significant. One KPMG Switzerland facts page says the firm has more than 2,600 employees in Switzerland. A separate careers page gives a fuller snapshot: 3,134 employees, 65 nationalities, an average age of 34, 11 office locations, 350,712 hours of professional training, 477 part-time employees and 880 pro bono hours.

Those numbers help explain why flexibility matters. A workforce that spans Zurich, Zug, Geneva, Bern, Lucerne and Lugano is not one-size-fits-all, and neither are its life stages, commuting patterns or family situations. The training and part-time figures also show that the firm is trying to combine professional development with a more varied employment model, rather than treating part-time work as a side track.

The historical backdrop is striking too. KPMG Switzerland says it was founded in 1910 as Zürcher Treuhand Vereinigung. That gives its modern flexibility pitch extra weight: a century-old firm is trying to present itself as adaptable enough for a workforce that no longer expects a single rigid career pattern.

Remote work now comes with tax and legal complexity

The firm’s remote-work messaging goes beyond internal culture. In its cross-border remote work guidance, KPMG Switzerland says employees today have the flexibility to work from anywhere, including across international borders, but that this creates complex labor-law and tax issues.

That is the tension at the heart of modern flexibility. Remote work can make family life easier, open up cross-border arrangements and reduce the need to be physically tied to one office. But once employees work from another country, the firm has to consider payroll, tax residency, employment law and mobility rules. For a global professional-services network, that turns flexibility into a compliance issue as much as a lifestyle benefit.

One KPMG Switzerland employee, Vivienne Wild, captures that appeal directly: “Having the freedom to choose where I work allows me to spend precious time with my family in Germany,”. It is the kind of everyday detail that makes the policy feel real, because it shows how remote work can affect not just commute time but cross-border family life.

The wider mobility picture is getting more sophisticated

KPMG’s global materials suggest this is not a passing experiment. Its global remote-working report says international remote working is expected to normalize in some markets and industries. That points to a broader shift in how firms manage talent, especially when employees increasingly want location flexibility without losing access to meaningful work.

The mobility data reinforces that point. KPMG’s 2024 Global Mobility Benchmarking Survey says 76% of organizations use technology to manage international assignments. Its 2025 Global Mobility Benchmarking Report draws on 456 multinational enterprises across 29 jurisdictions and 12 industries. That scale shows how much international work arrangements have become a systems problem, not just a human-resources talking point.

For a firm like KPMG Switzerland, that means flexibility has to be supported by infrastructure. Remote work, travel, secondments and international assignments all need rules, oversight and coordination. The promise is not simply “work from anywhere.” It is that the organization will build the machinery to make that workable.

Flexibility also extends to returners

KPMG Switzerland is also extending flexible patterns into its returnship program. Candidates can work full- or part-time, at least 60%, giving people re-entering the workforce a way back into professional services without immediately taking on a full-time load.

That matters because returnship pathways often sit at the intersection of talent retention and inclusion. They can bring experienced professionals back into the firm while giving them room to manage family or other responsibilities during the transition. In a business that depends on client continuity and specialized expertise, that widens the pool without lowering expectations.

KPMG Switzerland’s message is ultimately clear: flexibility is part of how it wants to compete for talent, but it is still built around performance, client service and mobility discipline. For employees, the upside is more control over where and how work gets done. The limit is just as clear: when the work gets intense, the firm still expects the pace to rise with it.