Personal Profile

Name

Walter Pela
Company

KPMG Canada
Title

Managing Partner, Greater Vancouver Area
Business Email

https://home.kpmg/ca/en/home/misc/contact-kpmg.html
Business Website

home.kpmg/ca
Industry

Finance
Headcount

6500
Is your organization a non-profit, for profit business, or public sector institution?

for profit business

Leadership Profile

Who We Are

KPMG is a Canadian leader in delivering Audit, Tax, and Advisory services. KPMG responds to clients’ complex business challenges across the country and around the world. Our firm provides crucial services to many of the top business, not for profit and government organizations in Canada. We work closely with our clients, helping them to manage risks and take advantage of opportunities.
At KPMG we’ve created an inclusive and diverse environment and an award-winning culture that values thinking and doing differently and working together with our clients, communities and each other.
Why We Are Involved

Championing inclusion at KPMG is a commitment we don’t take lightly. We recognize it is more important than ever to reflect the diverse experiences, perspectives, and backgrounds of Canada’s growing population. We are committed to creating an inclusive work environment where our people are able to bring their whole self to work and know they belong.
Distinction and Awards

Our commitment to provide a supportive and innovative workplace for our people has been recognized year after year.

  • 2020: Canada’s Top 100 Employers
  • 2020: Named one of Canada’s Best Diversity Employers for 13 consecutive years.
  • 2019: Canada’s Top 100 Employers, Canada’s Best Employers for Young People, Canada’s Top Family-Friendly Employers, Canada’s Greenest Employers
  • 2019: Elevate Most Innovative Workplaces
  • 2019: LinkedIn Top Companies, Glassdoor Best Places to Work, Indeed Best Places to Work
Number of employees

6500
Accessibility Initiatives
  • Our Inclusion & Diversity strategy focuses on five priority groups (Persons with Disabilities, Indigenous, LGBTQ2, Women and Visible Minorities). This strategy is driven by our Executive Inclusion & Diversity Council composed of 24 senior leaders from across the country, and is co-chaired by our Chief Executive Officer and Chief Inclusion & Social Impact Officer.
  • KPMG is committed to meeting the needs of persons with disabilities in a timely manner, and does so by preventing and removing barriers to accessibility. We offer an accommodations policy and program, ergonomic assessments performed by certified experts, and workplace emergency response plans.
  • We provide mental health training for Managers and resilience training to provide our people with tools to proactively support their mental well-being.
  • Our Total Rewards programs provides employees with the flexibility to choose how to support their own wellness in a personal and meaningful way. This includes access to a lifestyle spending account that can be used for a broad range of products and services including fitness, financial services, mindfulness and meditation apps and much more.
  • Our Employee Relations, HR Business Partners and Consultants, and Inclusion & Diversity complete in-depth Mental Health Leadership training certification through Queen’s University.
  • We are currently piloting an initiative to attract people who identify as neurodiverse / neurodivergent to work at KPMG
  • 3900+ of our people have gone through unconscious bias training
  • Our Vancouver office was one of the first premises to receive a Rick Hansen Accessibility Certification when the program was launched; the firm is also reviewing accessibility improvements.
  • KPMG in BC is a signatory of the Minerva Pledge to support gender diversity and championing inclusive workplaces.
  • KPMG in BC also launched and sustains a #whatisyourstory initiative to encourage all people to bring their whole selves to work in an authentic way, through the power of personal stories, to create an inclusive environment where all people feel safe and valued.
  • http://www.kpmg.ca/ecommunications/external/whatisyourstory/
Highlights
  • We appointed Corporate Canada’s first Chief Mental Health Officer to raise awareness, reduce stigma, enhance supports and educate our people.
  • We have an employee-led Special Family & Friends Network that provides support for KPMG parents across Canada who have children with disabilities.
  • We offer an annual firm-funded allowance of $2,000 for all employees and each of their dependents which can be used for reimbursement of mental health practitioner expenses.
  • 91% of our people believe Partners support Inclusion & Diversity in the workplace, recognizing and respecting the value of difference; 88% of our people believe they can bring their whole self to work.
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