Our Social Responsibility during Covid-19

At Deloitte, our purpose is to make an impact that matters for our people, our clients, our community and our planet. At a time like this, we have really considered each element of this purpose statement in more detail than ever before. Our impact in the community is part of our everyday in Deloitte with our main focus on education, upskilling and access to opportunity through our WorldClass ambition and charity partners.

One of our key charity partners is with Age Action who we partnered with since 2016. The elderly are one of the most vulnerable in our society especially at this time and we are grateful to partner with Age Action as an organisation who is best positioned to know the supports needed by their clients especially as we navigate our way through this pandemic.

Over the years, we have supported 176 learners through the Getting Started Programme where our volunteers have helped to bridge the digital divide, to beat exclusion and isolation and to increase independence and equality for the learners they work with over the course of the 6 week programme and of course create a special and unique bond between volunteer and learner! We continue to do this by other means of correspondence including the forgotten art of letter writing and simple phone calls. Our volunteer programmes will be moving to the virtual classroom where our volunteers will work with learners identified by Age Action who wish to learn how to use their digital devices virtually, ensuring we continue to support the mission of reducing the digital divide for the older generation.

In addition we have contributed financially to the Hardship Fund that will support the requirements of the elderly for any practical needs including but not limited to any food or other basic provisions, the cost of utility bills or the cost of technology equipment.

We are proud to partner with Age Action at this time and will continue to work with them beyond this crisis to educate the
elderly and breakdown the digital divide by empowering them to live full lives as actively engaged citizens and to secure their rights to comprehensive high quality services according to their changing needs.

“Age Action is very proud to have Deloitte as a longstanding corporate partner since early 2016. Our partnership with Deloitte has been of particular importance to us as we strive to meet the needs of older people in Ireland who are at high risk of the impact of COVID-19. Not only has Deloitte very generously donated vital funds to our COVID-19 Hardship Fund, developed in partnership with the Irish Red Cross to support older people in vulnerable situations and experiencing difficulty meeting the increased costs of the COVID-19 pandemic, but staff are also keeping in touch with former Getting Started learners by writing to them to say hello and offer extra support to ensure they can stay informed, supported, connected and socially active online. Many of Deloitte’s amazing staff are now preparing to support Age Action once again, as we work hard to further bridge the Digital Divide for more than 50% of people between the ages of 65 and 74 (and 4% of those over 75) who have never been online and are at risk of becoming further isolated from their families, friends and communities. This will be critical to ensuring that as many older people as possible can access official information, avail of community resources and supports and stay in contact with their loved ones online at a time when this is more important than ever. We want to take this opportunity to thank Deloitte and all their staff for their ongoing support and generosity and applaud the CR Team, who have supported and nurtured our partnership from the start.”

-Paddy Connolly, CEO, Age Action Ireland