Volunteering at Deloitte 2022

Young Enterprise Switzerland (YES)

“Shortly after Deloitte’s Volunteer Hub launched, we registered our interest for the Young Enterprise Switzerland (YES) primary school programme. The initiative is focused on collaborating with local schools to supplement their curriculum with hands-on lessons that are taught by new (and hopefully engaging) lecturers and cover practical topics on how communities and society function.

What initially intrigued both of us was the opportunity to engage with children and to be given the chance to help shape their view and understanding of the world around them. With that ambition in mind and following a thorough onboarding from the YES team, we jointly taught two mornings at a school in Affoltern: equipped with detailed lesson plans and facilitation materials from YES, we “baked” and ate fresh Gipfeli, set up a new business and paid taxes together - this was probably the first time ever that paying taxes was fun!

Although it was not always easy to keep everyone’s attention, the interactive nature of our lessons was much appreciated by the children. The activities provided applicable lessons and entertainment, but also taught us a few new things – for example, how extensive children’s creativity can be.
All in all, this was a very rewarding experience, which not only allowed us to directly observe the impact we were having, but also provided both of us with a welcome change of scenery to our everyday office job.”

Sven, Partner, Risk Advisory & Esther, Manager, Consulting

Deloitte CARE

“CARE stands for Connection & Assistance for Refugee Employability, and it’s goal is to increase refugees' employability within Switzerland. The initiative is based on a strong collaboration with local organisations such as PowerCoders, Capacity Zurich - Refugee & Migrant Entrepreneurship, Hospice General and SINGA.

We launched a brand-new project this year in partnership with Capacity Zürich, which aims to provide refugees more visibility throughout the recruitment phase. Each candidate has a refugee or immigrant background and receives support from a Deloitte employee throughout the application process. Since the start of the CARE programme in 2017, over 100 refugees have participated in mentoring cycles and integration events and around 150 Deloitte employees have contributed to the project leveraging their specific skills.

We can only imagine what it must feel like to flee our country of origin and leave behind families, friends, loved ones and communities in search of a better and happier future somewhere else. It is then a source of utmost pride and self-satisfaction to be able to contribute to the local economy and social life of the country of destination. It gives a sense of acceptance and belonging, which is what all of us look for after all.

This is why Deloitte CARE is so important. It is not only an opportunity to support people in need, share knowledge and give back to society, it is also an opportunity to build bridges between people, to expand our knowledge of other cultures and to build long-lasting friendships.”

Claudia, Senior Consultant, Consulting

Laptop donations to Ukrainian children in Switzerland

“Changing schools is hardly a walk in the park. Imagine that you are moving to one where you are taught a different curriculum, in a language you have probably never heard before. Out of 70'000 Ukrainians who arrived in Switzerland many were school-aged children. For them school opened the door to integration, but this is not always an easy task to handle. Many left their homes without any devices that could have helped them stay in touch with their schools and friends back home, or that could have helped learn new languages and other subjects here in Switzerland. Therefore getting laptops for them and their families was a great way to help them access various learning platforms, facilitate schooling in Swiss schools, maintain remote learning at schools back in Ukraine, and of course to stay connected with the relatives and friends who are not here. We donated nearly 70 laptops, supporting 200 people (i.e. both the children and their families)!

Staying in touch with some of the families gave us the opportunity to see how they are progressing in the schools and hearing their success stories has been very rewarding.

Our donations made the integration for around 200 people just a little bit easier and we are glad that we could make that happen!”

Viktoriya, Director, Audit & Assurance

Deloitte Poland Foundation

“At Deloitte Switzerland we give every employee opportunities to get involved in our charitable giving. For example, each person gets a birthday voucher which they can claim or donate to charity. If they donate their voucher, Deloitte matches the amount donated, doubling their impact. This year our birthday voucher donations will go to projects that support the integration and education of Ukrainian refugees in Poland through the Deloitte Poland Foundation. One programme is about teaching Polish and Ukrainian children Science, Technology, Engineering, Art and Math (STEAM) topics together, encouraging high-quality learning and promoting integration in Polish society. We will also support a project that helps Ukrainian adults learn Polish, one of the main factors holding them back from getting jobs and becoming self-sufficient as they experience refugeehood.”

Madeleine, Social Impact Lead

WWF conservation support

“Spending a day out in nature, getting my hands dirty in supporting WWFs conservation efforts and meeting new and familiar faces from across Deloitte Switzerland was educational, inspiring and good fun. Despite the rain, the spirits of our group of 30 volunteers were not dampened and we were successfully able to support a local farmer and WWF conservationist in the colourful meadows of the Jura region.

We met early morning on the edge of the forest in the Jura region. After a walk through the beautiful pine forest, we arrived at the lovely, quaint Herzberg House. There we stocked up on coffee and morning tea and met our WWF conservationist, Diego. Equipped with sturdy gloves, hand saws and pruning scissors, we set off on an adventure into the meadow. We were tasked with pruning back a large hedge on the edge of the meadow to make way for the local biodiverse fauna and flora. From tackling the vines and thorns, sliding on mud and learning how to prune each plant species correctly, it was definitely a new set of challenges than faced in the office every day. After making a good dent in the hedge, returning to a hot lunch and dry clothes at Herzberg house felt like an oasis and much needed refuel after a hard day’s work.

Being passionate about environmental conservation, I am grateful to have volunteered my time to this cause and swap a day in the office for a day in my happy place, out in nature.”

Stephanie, Sustainability & WorldClimate Manager

WWF advisory support

“The wider public does not always associate finance and sustainability. However, economic activities only take place if they are financed and insured. Therefore, it matters a great deal whether banks and insurers support green or unsustainable activities – and what regulation encourages or directs them to do. Governments and supervisors have started to tackle these issues but much remains to be done.

In this context, the World Wide Fund For Nature (WWF) has worked with the finance sector for more than a decade with the aim to integrate environmental & social considerations into mainstream finance and support the Paris Climate Agreement and the UN Sustainable Development Goals. WWF has notably developed a sustainable finance tracker called SUSREG, which surveys regulations and initiatives from more than 40 countries around the globe and shares the best emerging practices.

WWF was looking for a partner to help them develop this initiative further, perform all the country assessments and write the public reports. This is what my Deloitte colleagues and myself have now been doing for over a year. I am proud that Deloitte have committed to support WWF with this initiative. We believe that the assessment and promotion of the best sustainable finance practices, supported by direct engagement with national authorities, is a constructive approach which will deliver positive results for policymakers, the financial sector, society and nature.”

Jérôme, Director, Sustainability Services

We want to thank everyone who has been involved in volunteering their time this year!

These activities help us towards reaching our goal of impacting 75’000 futures by 2030 as part of the Deloitte WorldClass initiative. WorldClass is our global ambition to impact 100 million futures worldwide by 2030 by helping individuals improve their skills, education, and access to employment and opportunity. We do this through our impactful social impact programming, including skilled volunteering and charitable giving. Learn more

They also help us in achieving our global WorldClimate goals. To do our part to help the world achieve the goals of the Paris Agreement, Deloitte has launched WorldClimate, our strategy to drive responsible climate choices within our organization and beyond. Learn more

We wish everyone at Deloitte the very best for the end of the year and we look forward to the many ways our people will continue to give back in 2023!