Record partner promotions and increased support for women returning to work

Commenting on the promotions, chief executive David Sproul said: “Today’s promotions represent a major investment in our services and in our people and demonstrates the confidence we have about the growth opportunities that lie ahead. This investment will help ensure Deloitte continues to make an impact that matters through supporting the growth and competitiveness of UK plc and building trust and confidence in the capital markets.”

Nearly a third of the newly promoted partners are female reflecting the success of measures introduced by the firm to identify and retain high performing women. Deloitte has today also pledged to provide increased support for senior women wishing to return to work.

It has announced a new ‘return-to-work’ scheme, which offers a 12-week paid internship to women who have been out of the workforce for between three and six years. The scheme will run from September to December, during term-time only. In the first year, it will be open to Deloitte alumni and the ambition is for 80% of participants to take up longer-term roles with the firm at the end of their internship.

Sproul said: “It is positive that this year, a higher proportion of our new partners are women. 25% of both the firm’s Executive and Board are female and we are committed to continuing to do more to create more opportunities in Deloitte for women at a senior level.”

Emma Codd, Deloitte’s managing partner for talent, added: “Gender diversity at leadership levels remains a challenge for many businesses but there is an ever-increasing understanding of the issues that hold women back in the workplace and the ways in which we can best tackle these. We have implemented a series of actions to increase the number of women we recruit, to ensure that development opportunities are clearly available and to provide a working environment that enables women to balance a successful career with family life.”