Managing Career Lifechoices at KPMG

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by Pamela Weinsaft (New York City)

Mentoring, flextime arrangements, networking, and opportunities for frank discussions about issues women face are all essential components in the programs KPMG has put in place to increase retention of women in their ranks. Through its Women’s Advisory Board, KPMG has created and rolled out over 300 programs designed to increase diversity in the workforce and keep women engaged throughout their careers.

Kathy Hannan, Midwest area managing partner for Tax Services, is the head of the KPMG Women’s Advisory Board. Interviewed by The Glass Hammer, Ms. Hannan proudly stated, “from when KPMG first created an advisory board through last fiscal year, there has been a decrease in female turnover by 30.3 percent. In particular, there’s been a reduction in turnover at the manager and senior associate levels. We’ve seen an increase in the number of women overall and an increase in promotions overall. This is a testament to building a pipeline. And it shows in our work environment surveys which show that [approximately] 81 percent of our women say KPMG is a great place to work–as compared to 66 percent in 2004–so we know the programs are working.”

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What Am I Worth?

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moneyinhand.JPGby Paige Churchman (New York City)

The first time I asked for a raise, I got it. That was way back in the 1970s. I was a secretary in an ad agency. I faced off against my boss’s boss, asking for a lot more than the $150 a week I was making. “Our secretaries don’t make over $160,” he said. “Have faith,” he said. “Lots of girls would do your job for free,” he said. Nice try, buddy. I got $175 a week and a promise for $190 (what I asked for) two months later.

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Top Gals and the Gap

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iStock_000005581680XSmall.jpgby Paige Churchman (New York City)

With all the other news from the financial world, you might have missed this – both Fortune and Forbes have recently published their top-paid lists of businesswomen. Fortune’s is a sub list of its annual 50 Most Powerful Women in Business, published just last week, three weeks after Forbes named its 100 Highest-Paid Women In Corporate America and about a month after the Census released its 2007 figures on the U.S. wage gap between men and women.

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Coming Full Circle at PricewaterhouseCoopers

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full_circle.gifby Pamela Weinsaft (New York City)

According to the groundbreaking 2005 article, Off Ramps and On Ramps: Keeping Talented Women on the Road to Success, authored by Sylvia Ann Hewlett of the Center for Work-Life Policy, nearly four in ten highly qualified women report that they have left work voluntarily at some point in their careers. Among women who have children, that statistic rises to 43%.

“What we found most compelling [from the Sylvia Ann Hewlett data] was that 90% of the women leaving for personal reasons, such as to raise a family, intended to come back,” said Jennifer Allyn, Managing Director of Gender Retention & Advancement at PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP (PwC).
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Intrepid Women: My Life on the Street, Part I

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parkbench.JPGby Paige Churchman (New York City)

Labor Day weekend approached, and all week I’d answered what-are-you-doing-this-weekend with “oh, sticking around.” True, but… For the next four days and three nights, I would be living like, and with, the homeless. I had signed up for a Street Retreat run by the Zen Peacemakers. The street that I would be living on was as much a state of mind as the street that peppered financial conversations, but the two were worlds apart.

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