2021 Social Impact Report
Valuing difference
At Deloitte, we value the joyous complexity of what makes each of us original. When you break a person into components, however well-intentioned, part of them goes missing. Gender matters. Ethnicity matters. Identity matters. Of course. But to take these things individually is to lose the essence of what makes us human. When individuals can truly be their whole selves and not pretend to be someone else, they can work more purposefully.
Diversity, Equity and Inclusion are central to our culture, embedded in the firm’s FY24 business strategy. Our shared values of Fostering Inclusion and Taking care of each other shape the actions we take to ensure everyone feels safe and can be their true and best self at work.
We’re proud of the initiatives and actions we have taken – but we’re real about it. We need to continuously learn and improve. We are steadfast in our commitment to respect, ethics and integrity. And we aim to push the boundaries and contribute to driving more equality, inclusion and belonging in society.
“Through our Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) Strategy, we continuously strive to create an inclusive environment for our people, clients and communities. This strategy creates the foundation for an inclusive, safe, ethical and productive workplace that allows our people to be their best and bring their whole selves to work.”
Pip Dexter, National Lead Partner, Diversity, Equity and Inclusion
“We’re committed to creating a safe, respectful and inclusive culture and an even playing field for everyone. We each have a responsibility to create an environment in which all our people feel comfortable to be themselves and are able to reach their full potential, every day.”
Tina McCreery, National Talent Partner
Working towards gender equity
We believe that achieving gender equity requires a combination of deliberate and measurable actions, embedded in a safe, respectful and inclusive culture; and a flexible working environment for all our people. Created in 2000, our gender equity strategy is a sustained and strategic approach to advancing women’s careers. This strategy supports our firm’s aspiration to be the undisputed leader in professional services and an Employer of Choice for talented women. It sets out to achieve equal representation of women and men at all levels across the firm.
We're doing this by identifying and removing barriers to equality within our employee experience with the goal of creating a level playing field and an inclusive culture for everyone.
In the last 12 months we've made several deliberate choices to make sure we're proactively identifying and removing these barriers:
- 12 days of Gender Equity: In March, we spent two weeks raising awareness of gender equity. During this time, we shone a spotlight on our ALL In gender equity strategy, by marking key milestones including International Women's Day, celebrating a number of ALL In initiatives and sharing stories of inclusion
- Return to Work Program: For the third consecutive year, in 2021, Deloitte supported a cohort of women and men who have been out of work for an extended period to transition back via a 6-month tailored program
- Inspiring Women Program: This year, we launched our 2021 Inspiring Women program, now in its 19th year. The program focuses on accelerating the careers of our high potential female leaders and empowering them with the tools, resources, and confidence to build their leadership capabilities.
- Lean In circles: Launched in 2020, Lean In Circles provide a forum to bring together small groups of female Directors with a dedicated Group Coach for a six-month program.
- LCSP Accelerator: In response to a recognised need to accelerate the path into client leadership roles for our female Partners, we developed and launched our Lead Client Service Partner Accelerator program. A 12-month program comprising of group coaching and tailored development designed to enhance Female Partners confidence, connection and capability in readiness to be appointed to the role of Lead Client Service Partner / Client Leader of a Strategic Account in the next 6 - 12 months.
- Inclusive Leadership: We believe inclusive leaders are critical to nurturing a culture where our people feel motivated, engaged and empowered to be themselves. Our approach to sustaining and embedding our culture of inclusion is to ensure our people know how to be inclusive every day. In 2020, we delivered immersive Inclusive Leadership Activation Labs to over 2,000 of our leaders.
- Supporting those affected by Domestic and Family Violence: We continue to provide comprehensive support to those affected by domestic and family violence, including a network of trained first responders, paid leave, access to financial assistance and unlimited counselling services to individuals and their families.
Evolving the hybrid working model
We have reimagined what work looks like and how we can empower all our people to create a work experience that is distinct to their needs, along with the needs of their clients and teams.
Founded on concepts of trust, balance, wellbeing and the importance of personal connection, the Deloitte Experience (DX) empowers our people to make choices about where they work based on their client, team and individual needs and how they connect with their clients and each other.
“We are standing on the edge of a new way of working. One that encourages flexibility, balance, trust and empowerment – all underpinned by the importance of human connection. The Deloitte Experience enables our people to make the right choices for our clients, teams and for ourselves so we can be at our best, regardless of when, where or how we work.” – Adam Powick, Chief Executive Officer, Deloitte Australia
Our market-leading flexible work policy, DeloitteFlex, now includes 12 flexible working options that allow our people to shape their working day and provide a wide range of leave choices. These include:
- WellbeingFlex: A paid annual Wellbeing day for our people focus on their wellbeing and to relax and recharge
- TimeFlex: Working 9 to 5 every day is a thing of the past. Our people will work with their managers to agree their start and finish times based on the needs of their clients, their teams and their own personal needs. Friday afternoons are free of internal formal meetings to allow our people to catch up on work before the weekend
- CulturalFlex: Giving our people the option to swap two public holidays to observe the cultural or religious days that matter to them
- CommunityFlex: Encouraging our people to take time out to make an impact in their community.
We have also evolved and enhanced our Virtual Office capability, which provides the latest digital technology required to work successfully away from the office.
Through our Deloitte Experience, we will continue to empower all our people to create an experience that is unique as they are, and a work environment that is distinctly Deloitte.
Flexing for family reasons
A Partner in our Audit & Assurance team, Ella White is the mother of three-and-a-half-year-old, Patrick, and one-and-a-half-year-old, Aoife. For Patrick, Ella took six months of parental leave. Her husband, who also works at Deloitte, also took six months leave so they could share caring responsibilities for Patrick’s first year. For Aoife, Ella took twelve months and her husband took six months, enabled by Deloitte’s shared Parental Leave Policy. Ella reflects, “The fact that my husband could take his parental leave flexibly and be with our children in that early period has had a much bigger impact on me than just taking parental leave myself. It changed my entire experience as a mum, and importantly, gave me a sense of equality. I couldn’t have gone back to work at six months without it”.
Ella now works flexibly, tailoring her hours during the week to enable school pick-ups, logging back on for a couple hours in the evening. She also uses Friday afternoons to spend precious time with her one year old. “Flexing like this while my kids are little really adds to my family life,” she says.
When asked about her career, Ella said, “I have had my biggest promotion and acceleration of learning whilst being pregnant and having kids (being promoted to Partner the day after my son was born). I didn’t feel like there were barriers because I had kids. I’ve been encouraged to pursue interests and take on additional leadership roles as a Partner, since having children. Overall, being able to bring my two worlds together has benefited me immensely. At work, I’m more efficient and more productive, while still getting to spend valuable time with my family at home.”