THE KPMG LEGACY WALL
KPMG'S PURPOSE LIES IN ITS PEOPLE.
How does a company with 30,000 employees and 90 offices in the U.S. help every single person feel connected and proud of the work they do? KPMG had already initiated a Higher Purpose internal campaign to strengthen employee pride and engagement within their enormous “Big Four” firm. Yet they hadn’t found a way to foster a long lasting, emotional connection with employees.
Forcade was brought in to solve this challenge. We used one-of-a-kind environmental graphics and experiential graphic design techniques to make every employee feel like they’re an important part of the KPMG legacy, from the newest recruit to the most senior member of staff.
Our idea was to take a well-known, historical representation of financial services and turn it on its side. The result: a beautiful abacus wall that makes a big statement.
Each bead (which we call a “marker”) represents an individual employee. All of the beads together add up to what makes KPMG’s success possible. This leaves no doubt in employees’ minds that they are the most important part of KPMG’s purpose.
To further strengthen their connection with the organization, we had the employees “build” the wall themselves. Each person was given a marker and asked to sign their name and the year they joined the firm. Employees then added their personal marker wherever they wanted on the Legacy Wall.
As a new employee starts with KPMG they too are given this opportunity to leave their mark. The markers stay even when an employee leaves the firm, signifying the importance of the impact they made while working for KPMG.
We strongly believed this idea was most powerful only if every KPMG employee could experience the Legacy Wall. That presented a challenge because no two offices are alike.
So we created structural components that were highly flexible and simple to replicate. Tensioned metal cables that run floor to ceiling. Metal markers. And enough room for 10 years of growth in each office. That’s all that was needed to construct a custom Legacy Wall in each of KPMG’s 21 offices that had a large number of employees.
KPMG was ranked No. 1 Big Four Best Company to Work For for the first time in its history.
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