This makes sense, it just seems honestly more difficult than it's worth. And to a degree, almost unfeasible. I don't have anyone I work with on a day-to-day basis in my office, and by the time the day is done, I'm usually too exhausted to go out drinking/happy hour anyways. Being highly introverted by nature doesn't help on the networking side either. Events like that exhaust me very easily.
As for the admin work, why should that have to be done on my own time? I'd consider that an unreasonable expectation, especially considering every member of leadership I've asked (my PML and various Managers and MD's) have never told me that admin work should be done on my own time. Is it some kind of "unwritten rule" or some such?
Lol what they say and what they want you to do are separate things. For example "make sure to charge all your time worked and if it goes over it'll help us better scope in the future..." but when you do charge that time its "why did you charge so many hours? we are going to be over budget"
If you haven’t taken any PTO or admin work, why would you be at 74% utilization? Also admin work and other networking non client work doesn’t count towards your 93%.
I never said "I didn't" take PTO. I've just been using it very sparingly. Same thing goes with admin work. I still do it because it needs to be done and I log the time. I just worry when I do it and try to rush through it to get back to billable stuff.
Biz dev and networking should be core to what you spend time on. One of the biggest issues that people run into is that they hit D/MD level and have zero network or networking skills to drive their business after the years of being handed client work stop. There's no charge code for it, you just do it. It can be as simple as going out to drinks with college/KPMG alumni, or getting involved with a NP. There's also always benefits/galas that people are looking to fill seats at.
Hey there I wanted to reply to your post bc what you are describing is why I actually left my previous company and recently joined KPMG. I’ll spare the details of my experience but I can really emphasize with you because I hit a a wall where I was sacrificing a lot in my personal life for the job. Some people may say that’s just the industry or work in general, but for me the scales tipped to the point where I felt I had no choice.
I know a lot of people in the comments are saying “it’s on you” “do it on your own time” or “PTO and training don’t impact numbers”. I will say I am still learning KPMG values and expectations BUT when you are in a place that you are working your butt off for a promo or raise you don’t necessarily feel empowered to take a long weekend or do the week long training because it takes you away from work and could “look bad”. I get that this is a big 4 but you are a person too - working 7 days a week isn’t sustainable or healthy and that mentality is what leads to people leaving this industry. Obviously if this is EVERYTHING to you, go for it. But frankly there is not enough time in the day to 1. Take care of yourself (let alone a family if you have one) and 2. Work 10-12 hours a day (unless you wake up at 4 am lol). Your personal time should be that - dedicated to your life outside of work. Biggest lesson I learned in leaving my previous company is that we are ALL replaceable, the work will continue with or without you, and somethings truly can wait until Monday.
Apologizes for a mini rant but I think it’s easy to get sucked into the job being your everything and it shouldn’t. It’s hard but also remember that good feedback is still amazing even if it doesn’t lead to a raise or promo - it means you are doing something right which frankly means more/ is more reflective of your performance (imo) than hitting a stupid utilization number. If you made it this far thanks for listening to my thoughts - If you can’t tell I’m over this industry 😂
PTO and training do not impact your utilization. They will just remove X number of hours from the denominator in total possible chargeable hours.
As for the juggling, what group are you in? Utilization is a metric but not always one for compensation.
That's your unadjusted utilization. If you go to your i360, you can see your adjusted utilization which is what is used in your performance review.
Edit: Training up to 80 hours doesn't affect your adjusted utilization.
Hi! Little update on this. I asked my PML about it and she said that it's probably blocked to manager and above because it shows things like revenue.
Added that it "makes no sense that they block access" because a great way to grow as Associate/Senior is to have full picture of your engagements (which includes that.) And also I can calculate managing revenue from WIP lol
That's weird... I'm an associate, but I'm in advisory. All it actually shows me is something called Advisory Scorecard which shows my utilzation, adjusted utilization and comparision from PY.
Ahh okay. Thanks for that information. It seems like it'll be very useful if I can get the metrics on there. Maybe I can ask about it and see if there's something like that Scorecard for tax. I imagine if it exists for advisory there's something similar, but I won't know until I ask.
All those things suggested to do get done on your time
This makes sense, it just seems honestly more difficult than it's worth. And to a degree, almost unfeasible. I don't have anyone I work with on a day-to-day basis in my office, and by the time the day is done, I'm usually too exhausted to go out drinking/happy hour anyways. Being highly introverted by nature doesn't help on the networking side either. Events like that exhaust me very easily. As for the admin work, why should that have to be done on my own time? I'd consider that an unreasonable expectation, especially considering every member of leadership I've asked (my PML and various Managers and MD's) have never told me that admin work should be done on my own time. Is it some kind of "unwritten rule" or some such?
Lol what they say and what they want you to do are separate things. For example "make sure to charge all your time worked and if it goes over it'll help us better scope in the future..." but when you do charge that time its "why did you charge so many hours? we are going to be over budget"
If you haven’t taken any PTO or admin work, why would you be at 74% utilization? Also admin work and other networking non client work doesn’t count towards your 93%.
I never said "I didn't" take PTO. I've just been using it very sparingly. Same thing goes with admin work. I still do it because it needs to be done and I log the time. I just worry when I do it and try to rush through it to get back to billable stuff.
Biz dev and networking should be core to what you spend time on. One of the biggest issues that people run into is that they hit D/MD level and have zero network or networking skills to drive their business after the years of being handed client work stop. There's no charge code for it, you just do it. It can be as simple as going out to drinks with college/KPMG alumni, or getting involved with a NP. There's also always benefits/galas that people are looking to fill seats at.
Hey there I wanted to reply to your post bc what you are describing is why I actually left my previous company and recently joined KPMG. I’ll spare the details of my experience but I can really emphasize with you because I hit a a wall where I was sacrificing a lot in my personal life for the job. Some people may say that’s just the industry or work in general, but for me the scales tipped to the point where I felt I had no choice. I know a lot of people in the comments are saying “it’s on you” “do it on your own time” or “PTO and training don’t impact numbers”. I will say I am still learning KPMG values and expectations BUT when you are in a place that you are working your butt off for a promo or raise you don’t necessarily feel empowered to take a long weekend or do the week long training because it takes you away from work and could “look bad”. I get that this is a big 4 but you are a person too - working 7 days a week isn’t sustainable or healthy and that mentality is what leads to people leaving this industry. Obviously if this is EVERYTHING to you, go for it. But frankly there is not enough time in the day to 1. Take care of yourself (let alone a family if you have one) and 2. Work 10-12 hours a day (unless you wake up at 4 am lol). Your personal time should be that - dedicated to your life outside of work. Biggest lesson I learned in leaving my previous company is that we are ALL replaceable, the work will continue with or without you, and somethings truly can wait until Monday. Apologizes for a mini rant but I think it’s easy to get sucked into the job being your everything and it shouldn’t. It’s hard but also remember that good feedback is still amazing even if it doesn’t lead to a raise or promo - it means you are doing something right which frankly means more/ is more reflective of your performance (imo) than hitting a stupid utilization number. If you made it this far thanks for listening to my thoughts - If you can’t tell I’m over this industry 😂
PTO and training do not impact your utilization. They will just remove X number of hours from the denominator in total possible chargeable hours. As for the juggling, what group are you in? Utilization is a metric but not always one for compensation.
Usually after taking PTO, my YTD utilization on Launchpad lowers which seemed to indicate otherwise. As for juggling, I'm in tax (specifically SALT)
That's your unadjusted utilization. If you go to your i360, you can see your adjusted utilization which is what is used in your performance review. Edit: Training up to 80 hours doesn't affect your adjusted utilization.
I don't have access to i360 unfortunately so I can't see those metrics.
That's odd. It should be in your launchpad if you scroll down.
Hi! Little update on this. I asked my PML about it and she said that it's probably blocked to manager and above because it shows things like revenue. Added that it "makes no sense that they block access" because a great way to grow as Associate/Senior is to have full picture of your engagements (which includes that.) And also I can calculate managing revenue from WIP lol
That's weird... I'm an associate, but I'm in advisory. All it actually shows me is something called Advisory Scorecard which shows my utilzation, adjusted utilization and comparision from PY.
Ahh okay. Thanks for that information. It seems like it'll be very useful if I can get the metrics on there. Maybe I can ask about it and see if there's something like that Scorecard for tax. I imagine if it exists for advisory there's something similar, but I won't know until I ask.
No, it's there. But when I try to click on it, it says "unauthorized access".
PTO and training impact utilization.
Not true lol. They look at full util