Big Four Shun Return-to-Office Push, Stick With Hybrid Instead

The Big Four accounting firms are sticking with hybrid work policies that they say offer crucial flexibility and help attract talent, despite corporate and US government moves to call employees back to the office five days a week.

Wall Street behemoth JPMorgan Chase & Co. is preparing to scuttle hybrid work options and the White House under President Donald Trump has called for a full end to remote work policies that have lingered across federal agencies since the height of the coronavirus pandemic.

Proponents argue in-person work improves collaboration and corporate culture. But a one-size-fits-all approach is a hard pill to swallow for large, multifaceted businesses like the Big Four: KPMG, Deloitte, Ernst & Young and PwC.

“Something that works for our audit business might not work for our tax or advisory business,” said Sandy Torchia, vice chair of talent and culture for KPMG US.

The Big Four’s US arms are also leaning into “flexibility” as a key word as they battle a shortage of CPAs stemming from a decrease in accounting graduates, rigid eduational requirements to earn licenses, and an anticipated retirement wave. PwC’s US firm, for instance, has the majority of its workers in the office or at client sites about half of the time.

The accounting firms are not alone. Hybrid work arrangements remain prevalent in the US’s finance and professional services sectors, according to the monthly Survey of Working Arrangements and Attitudes data released in December.

Younger workers are looking for organizations with less rigid work environments, said Mike DePrisco, president and CEO of the Institute of Management Accountants.

“It’s really about changing our mindset, right?” DePrisco said. “And moving away from these legacy ways of how work was getting done—and really embracing the fact that, look, it’s changed.”

Hybrid Approach

The Big Four have let their geographic and operational divisions take the reins in finding the balance between in-person and remote work.

About 57% of KPMG US’s workforce is in-person at some point in time each week though there is no firm-wide mandate, Torchia said.

“Let’s empower and enable our leaders to make decisions about where it makes the most sense for their teams to work,” she said.

KPMG US’s audit professionals have had a goal since fall 2023 of working in-person an average of three days a week, according to Becky Sproul, a partner and audit national talent & culture officer at KPMG US.

That could be either at an office or client site.

“We do not want them to come in for the sake of coming in to meet a checkbox, to swipe and leave,” Sproul said.

The majority of PwC’s US employees spend an average of 50% of their time in-person at an office or client site and audit employees’ time in-person may vary based on the season, according to a statement by Yolanda Seals-Coffield, PwC US’s chief people & inclusion officer. The US branch expects hybrid work to remain the norm this year, Seals-Coffield said.

Deloitte’s hybrid model is designed for teams to “co-locate when it matters most to the performance of our work and the development and well-being of our professionals,” Deloitte said in a statement.

EY US said in a statement it’s found teams that spend 40% to 60% of their time in-person experience “the optimal balance of collaboration and flexibility.”

Team-led models feel “intrinsically motivating” compared to mandates, EY US and Americas executives said in the Harvard Business Review in 2024.

Outside of the US, the Big Four’s policies vary depending on the region.

There’s a “cultural element” to workplace attitudes depending on the country, said Willem Blom, Deloitte Global Tax & Legal leader, in a recent interview.

Even before the pandemic, the Big Four had to think about how to “harmonize their practices and their cultures around the globe,” said Steven Davis, the Hoover Institution’s director of research.

Attracting Talent

Hybrid work policies may be a way to draw talent as the accounting industry at-large faces a shrinking pool of entry-level accountants.

Working remotely has modest positive impacts on employees with limited downsides, according to a Personnel Psychology meta-analysis based on 108 academic studies.

Training and isolation have been identified as obstacles. But in some cases “the autonomy benefits seem to outweigh the isolation downside” of remote work, said Ravi Gajendran, chair of Florida International University’s global leadership and management department and one of the meta-analysis’ researchers.

Rigid return-to-office policies “may further your pipeline and retention issues,” said Jack Castonguay, a Hofstra University associate professor and vice president of learning and development at Surgent Accounting & Financial Education.

The first people companies lose in return-to-office mandates are women and members of minority groups, said Kate Lister, president of consulting organization Global Workplace Analytics.

Hybrid policies enable firms to make work arrangements flexible based on stages in employees’ career.

Senior talent may want remote days, while early career hires may prioritize in-person mentorship opportunities.

“These types of virtual interactions tend to be more transactional,” said KPMG’s Torchia. “And transactional interactions don’t equate to building strong relationships.”

Road Ahead

Companies are still grappling with challenges of hybrid setups.

A US Public Company Accounting Oversight Board staff report noted in December hybrid work at audit firms could make learning more difficult among entry-level employees.

While technology allows KPMG’s audit teams to provide some training remotely, “soft skills” such as presentation training can be more effectively taught in-person, Sproul said.

Moving forward, firms should anchor policies in an “intentional strategy,” rather than reacting to the news, according to Wende Smith, BambooHR’s head of people operations.

KPMG US will monitor its employees’ and clients’ needs and business demands, as well as what other organizations are learning, Torchia said.

“It’s a giant experiment, right?” Torchia said. “We’ve never been at this moment before with the pandemic a not-so-distant memory, with the way of working changed forever.”