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The BDO Experience:

An inside look at our approach to people

Welcome to the first issue of The BDO Experience. A report we’ve designed to feel like BDO; accessible, approachable, and inclusive.

Our culture is a powerful differentiator that’s integral to our firm’s strategy. Our values―embodied by our people and the work we do―guide us day-to-day. They inspire us to build deeper relationships with our clients and to foster an inclusive working environment that promotes collaboration and innovation. 

Our culture is rooted in a people-first approach that stems from our humble beginnings. Focused on serving small communities and building longstanding relationships, we’ve collectively expanded into a nation-wide firm that has grown its people, its service offering, and its geographic footprint for over 100 years. This same approach to our talent experience has earned us multiple employer awards, including a spot among Canada’s Top 100 Employers for 2022.

As economies and markets shift, so do opportunities to build our culture. And we’ve always been proud to make every workday our own—prioritizing flexibility, wellness, personalized experiences, and professional development.  

This issue of The BDO Experience focuses on a few of our foundational principles: shifting with change, the power of flexibility, career development, listening, and connecting.  


This report series is dedicated to all the people that have been part of BDO’s 100+ year history in Canada.  

To those shifting our industry with new ideas and expertise. And to the new hires who will continue to evolve our firm. 

We wouldn’t be us without you, and we celebrate you every day.

How we

SHIFT

Navigating change

Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, we’ve prioritized the health and well-being of our people, clients, and communities. As a result, we’ve made several enhancements to offer additional physical, mental, and financial wellness support.

New ways of working

In March 2020, we immediately established a COVID-19 task force comprised of cross-functional leadership—helping us evaluate guidance from all levels of government, set policies and practices, and ensure safety for all our people. Firm leadership shared weekly communications, including virtual calls, CEO video updates, as well as pulse surveys to monitor how our people were feeling throughout the pandemic.

As our people’s personal and professional lives started to blend due to responses to the pandemic, we emphasized a renewed focus on when and how we work. We introduced changes to programs and practices to help our people and evolved our ways of working to be flexible and hybrid in nature.

New programs and practices

  • Enhanced wellness reimbursement program to include home office and fitness equipment
  • New virtual care benefits for mind and body wellness
  • Flex hours widely adopted and endorsed in recognition of changing needs
  • Firm leadership encouraging people to take time in their day to do what brings them joy

Coast-to-coast hybrid approach

Our remote working arrangements during the pandemic accelerated a one-firm, coast-to-coast approach. Teams have started collaborating more expansively across the country, truly prompting BDO Canada to operate as one unified team. This created the opportunity to offer many new career opportunities open to being anywhere in Canada—always open to flexible working arrangements.

Our new hybrid approach also included a complete revamp of our Experiential & Events team, turning all our events into a fully virtual or hybrid experience. To that end, annual conferences for groups like Tax, and Assurance and Accounting, were hosted as hybrid—where some team members tuned in virtually while those who were able and felt comfortable, attended in person.

Shifting with change

Key facts and figures

4700+

people operated as fully remote, yet fully connected, during the COVID-19 lockdowns  

84%

of employees felt they could work from home productively and effectively during the lockdowns

How our people shifted with change 

How we

FLEX

Flexibility

As a firm we recognize that life happens during business hours. To embrace flexibility, we provide our people with the opportunity to blend work and life―using our flexibility principles to support their decisions on where, when, and how they work. With various initiatives throughout the year, we encourage everyone to maintain a healthy, balanced lifestyle that cultivates professional and personal success, giving everyone a personalized experience.

Ongoing firm-wide surveys have shown us that our people across Canada want to continue with hybrid ways of working that balance fully remote days, in-office days, and flexible hours.

What does flexibility mean to us?

Personal time off

We are proud to offer one of the most flexible approaches to paid time off, where all employees are provided time to use at their discretion to accommodate their unique needs, positioning them for personal success.

This time can be used for any reason, including vacation, illness, emergencies, appointments, study time, volunteering, religious observances, and community events. Separate policies are in place for matters pertaining to bereavement, leaves, and professional study/exam time. The 2022 calendar year includes five additional office closure days to ensure consistent opportunities for our people to recharge.

Parental and adoption leave

A key component of our flexibility offering is helping to balance the life and work of parents. Our parental/adoption leave benefits are available to any employee who is caring for a newborn or newly adopted/surrogate child, following the date the child comes into their care. We offer maternity and parental leave top-ups for mothers, fathers, and adoptive parents, along with continued access to BDO’s employee and family assistance program. The program supports needs such as counselling, legal services, financial planning, and family planning.

BDO’s flex challenge

Starting in 2021 and continuing through 2022, we challenged our people to share how they incorporate flexibility into their day—both through our internal social channels and via LinkedIn. The stories shared were a true testament to the benefits and opportunities a flexible workplace could provide once embraced.

Take a look at the below submissions to see how BDO Canada took on the #FlexChallenge.

How we

DEVELOP

Career development ​​​​

Since our people are the core of what we do, developing their careers means developing our business. We set clear expectations of employee performance that link directly to our firm strategy. This philosophy enables frequent communication between people and their leaders for meaningful, direct, and future-focused feedback.

Strategic Performance Outcomes (SPOs) are outlined for each role at BDO, ensuring the path to success is clearly defined at each level and business function. This empowers our employees to be at the centre of their performance and career with tools, resources, and support to successfully achieve their goals.

We encourage our people to embrace their strengths by creating a “love it and loathe it” list—focusing on what energizes them, proactively looking for opportunities to apply and develop their strengths.

Career advice from our leaders

Professional development support

To help our people accelerate their career growth, we offer a number of support resources for professional development:

  • A digital learning platform that enables our people to personalize their learning experience and access content anywhere and anytime
  • Ongoing firm-wide training to stay up to date on the latest trends and compliance standards across industries and business functions
  • Internal and external team conferences to stay competitive with industry best practices
  • External education support for courses relevant to job functions, with full reimbursement

2482

overall new hires from 2021 to 2022

43

senior managers were promoted to partner between 2021 and 2022

Step-Up co-op program 

Key stats on our career growth

834

promotions from
2021 to 2022

BDO career journeys 

To enhance the student co-op experience, we launched Step-Up—a 10-week virtual talent experience that supplements client projects and learning opportunities. Designed to ensure students have a memorable and consistent experience with BDO, the program helps them:

  • Develop core skills
  • Advance understanding of our business
  • Learn directly from leaders
  • Collaborate with other students
  • Attend social networking events

How we

LISTEN

Ongoing dialogue

Our strategies and policies are informed by ongoing dialogue with our people to ensure flexibility and inclusivity at all touchpoints. We’re proud to make our employee experience one that is positive, encouraging, and collaborative.

What does inclusion, equity and diversity mean to us?

How do we listen to our people?

To ensure our people feel connected, engaged, and have a voice in the overarching conversation, the Firm Engagement Committee was created. Comprised of leaders across different areas of the firm, the committee’s mandate is to nurture purpose and meaningful connections to build engagement.

Some firm-wide initiatives led by the Firm Engagement Committee include:

  • Get Stuff Done (GSD) days, an entire day for focused work and productivity without the interruption of internal meetings
  • Meeting times shortened from 30 and 60 minutes to 25 and 50 minutes respectively, ensuring time to take breaks in between
  • Additional full-day long weekend office closures
  • Sunshine hour encouraging people to get outside during the day
  • BDO’s #FlexChallenge, where people share how they incorporate flexibility on their social media channels
  • Strictly Social groups, connecting people across the country who share interests like music, reading, cooking, gaming, fitness, and more
  • Inspirational speaker series, supporting the practice of positive mental health and well-being
  • Employee focus groups to inform future initiatives

How our people feel about inclusion, equity and diversity 

Inclusion, equity and diversity

We’re proud to cultivate a fully inclusive working environment that values, recognizes, and respects each individual. Our long-term commitment to inclusion, equity and diversity aims to eliminate barriers and create an environment that fosters higher degrees of engagement, productivity, and innovation, while people feel encouraged to show up as their authentic selves.  

Since starting to actively engage and promote inclusion, equity and diversity, over 1500 employees and partners are actively engaging with internal community groups. We’ve also started to raise awareness on topics like mental health, pride, and women’s leadership, and will continue to do so.

Key components of our inclusion, equity and diversity efforts include:

  • A Chief Inclusion, Equity & Diversity Officer, dedicated to helping us raise awareness and participate in various initiatives across the firm
  • A National Inclusion, Equity & Diversity council with pillar leads representing women, racialized groups, persons with disabilities, Indigenous groups, and LGBTQ2S+ communities
  • A growing Inclusion, Equity & Diversity team with unique insights and expertise
  • Ongoing leadership and employee learning that nurtures inclusivity
  • Firm-wide surveys and focus groups to gather and analyze data, inform future initiatives, and create an environment where everyone feels valued and respected

How we

CONNECT

Connection at BDO

In navigating COVID-19 disruptions both personally and professionally, we adopted the one firm, one BDO approach. Our people are taking advantage of progressive technologies and newly-introduced initiatives to collaborate more effectively across Canada and build connectivity coast-to-coast—as one unified team.

We come to the office to create meaningful connections, develop our people, and meet our business needs while ensuring a safe and inclusive environment for all. We enable a successful hybrid workplace by applying our flexibility principles to everything we do.

What makes us proud to be part of BDO? 

Mental health and wellness

As our people’s well-being is a firm priority, an internal committee was formed by a group of passionate individuals looking to make a difference. The Are You Okay committee is dedicated to creating awareness and providing support, resources, and optimism to our firm around mental health. The committee is committed to elevating BDO’s culture of providing an environment where mental health discussions are normalized.

Throughout this journey, their purpose is to understand the needs of people across the firm and create an atmosphere where people can speak their truth, and know what resources are available to them to navigate through challenging moments in life.

Currently 88% of our people know what kind of support is available to them and their families, and how to access it. Our ever-evolving offering of mental health and wellness support includes the following:

Partner-employee check-ins: In Q1 2022, 4100+ one-on-one wellness check-ins between partners and employees were completed to support our people’s well-being.

Not Myself Today: A workplace mental health program by the Canadian Mental Health Association. The platform builds awareness while providing resources and tools to support mental health.

Case study: Bell Let’s Talk Day event

On January 26, 2022, we hosted an internal Bell Let’s Talk Day virtual event. MindBeacon’s Dr. Khush Amaria, PhD, CPsyche spoke about the key signs of stress and practical tips to manage stress. MindBeacon is part of our ongoing offering for mental health resources and support.

As part of the event, BDO donated to the Canadian Mental Health Association for every event attendee. During the presentation, our people actively engaged in the side chat, prompting a wave of personal donations from partners and employees to various mental health organizations.

Extended days off: Since 2021, we’ve offered all our employees and partners across Canada extended holiday long weekends to nurture our collective wellness.

Enhanced benefits:  For 2022, we enhanced our employee and partner benefit plan. Eighty-eight per cent of our employees participated in the benefit re-enrolment, which includes enhanced mental health paramedical practitioner coverage, 24/7 on-demand app access to healthcare professionals, and a greater retirement matching RRSP offering.

Perkopolis: Exclusive access to various discounted products and services including theatre, fitness, hotels, attractions, movies, shopping, insurance and more. Over 60% of our people take advantage of Perkopolis.

Employee and Family Assistance Program: Offers employees and their families access to confidential services, including childcare, elder care, financial resources like retirement planning, and other family-friendly services. To encourage inclusivity, families are defined as anyone within an employee’s household.

How do our people experience connection? 

The BDO Experience:

An inside look at our approach to people

Welcome to the first issue of The BDO Experience. A report we’ve designed to feel like BDO; accessible, approachable, and inclusive.

Our culture is a powerful differentiator that’s integral to our firm’s strategy. Our values―embodied by our people and the work we do―guide us day-to-day. They inspire us to build deeper relationships with our clients and to foster an inclusive working environment that promotes collaboration and innovation. 

Our culture is rooted in a people-first approach that stems from our humble beginnings. Focused on serving small communities and building longstanding relationships, we’ve collectively expanded into a nation-wide firm that has grown its people, its service offering, and its geographic footprint for over 100 years. This same approach to our talent experience has earned us multiple employer awards, including a spot among Canada’s Top 100 Employers for 2022.

As economies and markets shift, so do opportunities to build our culture. And we’ve always been proud to make every workday our own—prioritizing flexibility, wellness, personalized experiences, and professional development.  

This issue of The BDO Experience focuses on a few of our foundational principles: shifting with change, the power of flexibility, career development, listening, and connecting.  


This report series is dedicated to all the people that have been part of BDO’s 100+ year history in Canada.  

To those shifting our industry with new ideas and expertise. And to the new hires who will continue to evolve our firm. 

We wouldn’t be us without you, and we celebrate you every day.

How we

SHIFT

Navigating change

Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, we’ve prioritized the health and well-being of our people, clients, and communities. As a result, we’ve made several enhancements to offer additional physical, mental, and financial wellness support.

New ways of working

Shifting with change

In March 2020, we immediately established a COVID-19 task force comprised of cross-functional leadership—helping us evaluate guidance from all levels of government, set policies and practices, and ensure safety for all our people. Firm leadership shared weekly communications, including virtual calls, CEO video updates, as well as pulse surveys to monitor how our people were feeling throughout the pandemic.

As our people’s personal and professional lives started to blend due to responses to the pandemic, we emphasized a renewed focus on when and how we work. We introduced changes to programs and practices to help our people and evolved our ways of working to be flexible and hybrid in nature.

New programs and practices

  • Enhanced wellness reimbursement program to include home office and fitness equipment
  • New virtual care benefits for mind and body wellness
  • Flex hours widely adopted and endorsed in recognition of changing needs
  • Firm leadership encouraging people to take time in their day to do what brings them joy

Coast-to-coast hybrid approach

Our remote working arrangements during the pandemic accelerated a one-firm, coast-to-coast approach. Teams have started collaborating more expansively across the country, truly prompting BDO Canada to operate as one unified team. This created the opportunity to offer many new career opportunities open to being anywhere in Canada—always open to flexible working arrangements.

Our new hybrid approach also included a complete revamp of our Experiential & Events team, turning all our events into a fully virtual or hybrid experience. To that end, annual conferences for groups like Tax, and Assurance and Accounting, were hosted as hybrid—where some team members tuned in virtually while those who were able and felt comfortable, attended in person.

Key facts and figures

4700+

people operated as fully remote, yet fully connected, during the COVID-19 lockdowns  

84%

of employees felt they could work from home productively and effectively during the lockdowns

How our people shifted with change 

How we

FLEX

Flexibility

As a firm we recognize that life happens during business hours. To embrace flexibility, we provide our people with the opportunity to blend work and life―using our flexibility principles to support their decisions on where, when, and how they work. With various initiatives throughout the year, we encourage everyone to maintain a healthy, balanced lifestyle that cultivates professional and personal success, giving everyone a personalized experience.

Ongoing firm-wide surveys have shown us that our people across Canada want to continue with hybrid ways of working that balance fully remote days, in-office days, and flexible hours.

What does flexibility mean to us?

Personal time off

We are proud to offer one of the most flexible approaches to paid time off, where all employees are provided time to use at their discretion to accommodate their unique needs, positioning them for personal success.

This time can be used for any reason, including vacation, illness, emergencies, appointments, study time, volunteering, religious observances, and community events. Separate policies are in place for matters pertaining to bereavement, leaves, and professional study/exam time. The 2022 calendar year includes five additional office closure days to ensure consistent opportunities for our people to recharge.

Parental and adoption leave

A key component of our flexibility offering is helping to balance the life and work of parents. Our parental/adoption leave benefits are available to any employee who is caring for a newborn or newly adopted/surrogate child, following the date the child comes into their care. We offer maternity and parental leave top-ups for mothers, fathers, and adoptive parents, along with continued access to BDO’s employee and family assistance program. The program supports needs such as counselling, legal services, financial planning, and family planning.

BDO’s flex challenge

Starting in 2021 and continuing through 2022, we challenged our people to share how they incorporate flexibility into their day—both through our internal social channels and via LinkedIn. The stories shared were a true testament to the benefits and opportunities a flexible workplace could provide once embraced.

Take a look at the below submissions to see how BDO Canada took on the #FlexChallenge.

How we

DEVELOP

Career development ​​​​

Since our people are the core of what we do, developing their careers means developing our business. We set clear expectations of employee performance that link directly to our firm strategy. This philosophy enables frequent communication between people and their leaders for meaningful, direct, and future-focused feedback.

Strategic Performance Outcomes (SPOs) are outlined for each role at BDO, ensuring the path to success is clearly defined at each level and business function. This empowers our employees to be at the centre of their performance and career with tools, resources, and support to successfully achieve their goals.

We encourage our people to embrace their strengths by creating a “love it and loathe it” list—focusing on what energizes them, proactively looking for opportunities to apply and develop their strengths.

Career advice from our leaders

Professional development support

To help our people accelerate their career growth, we offer a number of support resources for professional development:

  • A digital learning platform that enables our people to personalize their learning experience and access content anywhere and anytime
  • Ongoing firm-wide training to stay up to date on the latest trends and compliance standards across industries and business functions
  • Internal and external team conferences to stay competitive with industry best practices
  • External education support for courses relevant to job functions, with full reimbursement

2482

overall new hires from 2021 to 2022

43

senior managers were promoted to partner between 2021 and 2022

Step-Up co-op program 

Key stats on our career growth

834

promotions from
2021 to 2022

BDO career journeys 

To enhance the student co-op experience, we launched Step-Up—a 10-week virtual talent experience that supplements client projects and learning opportunities. Designed to ensure students have a memorable and consistent experience with BDO, the program helps them:

  • Develop core skills
  • Advance understanding of our business
  • Learn directly from leaders
  • Collaborate with other students
  • Attend social networking events

How we

LISTEN

Ongoing dialogue

Our strategies and policies are informed by ongoing dialogue with our people to ensure flexibility and inclusivity at all touchpoints. We’re proud to make our employee experience one that is positive, encouraging, and collaborative.

What does inclusion, equity and diversity mean to us?

How do we listen to our people?

To ensure our people feel connected, engaged, and have a voice in the overarching conversation, the Firm Engagement Committee was created. Comprised of leaders across different areas of the firm, the committee’s mandate is to nurture purpose and meaningful connections to build engagement.

Some firm-wide initiatives led by the Firm Engagement Committee include:

  • Get Stuff Done (GSD) days, an entire day for focused work and productivity without the interruption of internal meetings
  • Meeting times shortened from 30 and 60 minutes to 25 and 50 minutes respectively, ensuring time to take breaks in between
  • Additional full-day long weekend office closures
  • Sunshine hour encouraging people to get outside during the day
  • BDO’s #FlexChallenge, where people share how they incorporate flexibility on their social media channels
  • Strictly Social groups, connecting people across the country who share interests like music, reading, cooking, gaming, fitness, and more
  • Inspirational speaker series, supporting the practice of positive mental health and well-being
  • Employee focus groups to inform future initiatives

How our people feel about inclusion, equity and diversity 

Inclusion, equity and diversity

We’re proud to cultivate a fully inclusive working environment that values, recognizes, and respects each individual. Our long-term commitment to inclusion, equity and diversity aims to eliminate barriers and create an environment that fosters higher degrees of engagement, productivity, and innovation, while people feel encouraged to show up as their authentic selves.  

Since starting to actively engage and promote inclusion, equity and diversity, over 1500 employees and partners are actively engaging with internal community groups. We’ve also started to raise awareness on topics like mental health, pride, and women’s leadership, and will continue to do so.

Key components of our inclusion, equity and diversity efforts include:

  • A Chief Inclusion, Equity & Diversity Officer, dedicated to helping us raise awareness and participate in various initiatives across the firm
  • A National Inclusion, Equity & Diversity council with pillar leads representing women, racialized groups, persons with disabilities, Indigenous groups, and LGBTQ2S+ communities
  • A growing Inclusion, Equity & Diversity team with unique insights and expertise
  • Ongoing leadership and employee learning that nurtures inclusivity
  • Firm-wide surveys and focus groups to gather and analyze data, inform future initiatives, and create an environment where everyone feels valued and respected

Case study: Bell Let’s Talk Day event

How we

CONNECT

What makes us proud to be part of BDO? 

Connection at BDO

In navigating COVID-19 disruptions both personally and professionally, we adopted the one firm, one BDO approach. Our people are taking advantage of progressive technologies and newly-introduced initiatives to collaborate more effectively across Canada and build connectivity coast-to-coast—as one unified team.

We come to the office to create meaningful connections, develop our people, and meet our business needs while ensuring a safe and inclusive environment for all. We enable a successful hybrid workplace by applying our flexibility principles to everything we do.

Mental health and wellness

As our people’s well-being is a firm priority, an internal committee was formed by a group of passionate individuals looking to make a difference. The Are You Okay committee is dedicated to creating awareness and providing support, resources, and optimism to our firm around mental health. The committee is committed to elevating BDO’s culture of providing an environment where mental health discussions are normalized.

Throughout this journey, their purpose is to understand the needs of people across the firm and create an atmosphere where people can speak their truth, and know what resources are available to them to navigate through challenging moments in life.

Currently 88% of our people know what kind of support is available to them and their families, and how to access it. Our ever-evolving offering of mental health and wellness support includes the following:

Partner-employee check-ins: In Q1 2022, 4100+ one-on-one wellness check-ins between partners and employees were completed to support our people’s well-being.

Not Myself Today: A workplace mental health program by the Canadian Mental Health Association. The platform builds awareness while providing resources and tools to support mental health.

On January 26, 2022, we hosted an internal Bell Let’s Talk Day virtual event. MindBeacon’s Dr. Khush Amaria, PhD, CPsyche spoke about the key signs of stress and practical tips to manage stress. MindBeacon is part of our ongoing offering for mental health resources and support.

As part of the event, BDO donated to the Canadian Mental Health Association for every event attendee. During the presentation, our people actively engaged in the side chat, prompting a wave of personal donations from partners and employees to various mental health organizations.

Extended days off: Since 2021, we’ve offered all our employees and partners across Canada extended holiday long weekends to nurture our collective wellness.

Enhanced benefits:  For 2022, we enhanced our employee and partner benefit plan. Eighty-eight per cent of our employees participated in the benefit re-enrolment, which includes enhanced mental health paramedical practitioner coverage, 24/7 on-demand app access to healthcare professionals, and a greater retirement matching RRSP offering.

Perkopolis: Exclusive access to various discounted products and services including theatre, fitness, hotels, attractions, movies, shopping, insurance and more. Over 60% of our people take advantage of Perkopolis.

Employee and Family Assistance Program: Offers employees and their families access to confidential services, including childcare, elder care, financial resources like retirement planning, and other family-friendly services. To encourage inclusivity, families are defined as anyone within an employee’s household.

How do our people experience connection?