Diversity and Inclusiveness at Ernst & Young

The 6th principle of the UN Global Compact addresses the elimination of discrimination in respect of employment and occupation. At Ernst & Young, we not only believe in that goal from a moral perspective: We are convinced that Diversity and Inclusiveness (D&I) are actually a business must. That is why we do more than just look for ways to prevent or eliminate discrimination; we actively promote diversity as a value crucial to our company.

We recognize difference as a way of harnessing the individual and combined talents of our people. That is why D&I has been declared one of our ten global priorities. We live in an increasingly global economy, where multicultural (and often virtual) teams are the norm rather than the exception. We need to take into account the new mix of cultures and individual characteristics that shape our workforce and the different work styles that build our talent pool. At the same time, our clients and markets have become more diverse themselves, and we must mirror this diversity in more than just claims and quotas. As business challenges become more complex, solving them requires us to call on the widest spectrum of views and opinions. Our global D&I strategy aims to create structures in which these positive effects of a diverse workforce can be leveraged.

However, it is important to recognize that the ability to cooperate across cultures does not come overnight. We are all biased — it is a part of human nature. While the abstract concept of diversity as a value might seem plausible to a lot of people, the actual confrontation with different points of view, different personal values, different ways of dealing with projects and problems on a day-to-day basis can easily create confusion and frustration. If not managed properly, the risk is high that the possible positive effects will never be uncovered. Instead, whoever represents the majority or the highest hierarchy level in the team could make decisions according to their belief-system, which can lead to discrimination against those who do not share it. This is why it is not enough to just have a diverse workforce – it is important to create awareness and develop the necessary skills to avoid frustration and discrimination and to leverage diversity’s benefits.

We recognize that there is no fast-track or short-cut for D&I. That is why there are various initiatives on the office, country, area and global levels to address these issues in a comprehensive and sustainable way. In Germany, the roots of our D&I strategy go back to the long-existing program GROW – Growth and Retention Of Women. The program focuses on leveraging female leadership by providing networking and mentoring opportunities, events and quarterly measurements of gender equity, which are used as an important indicator in the German sustainability strategy. GROW has laid a solid foundation for our D&I initiative, and the heart of the program remains a priority within D&I. However, the definition of relevant diversity factors within our organization has widened. The challenge we are facing today lies in adjusting activities to that new scope as well as coordinating and streamlining our global activities.

One important step was the creation of the new position of D&I Partner for Germany, Switzerland, and Austria (GSA). Ana-Cristina Grohnert’s task is to integrate the various programs across GSA and define innovative actions connected to our global D&I vision and priorities.

For GSA, we have decided to set the first focus for the next 18-24 months on the aspects of gender management and cross-cultural communication. We believe this will help drive broader benefits across all other Diversity groups. We are defining Diversity on a much broader basis than just the official 6 aspects which anti-discrimination laws address (gender, age, ethnic background, religion, sexual orientation and disabilities). For us, Diversity also includes cultural aspects, different experience levels and backgrounds, diverse concepts of courage, honesty or quality. D&I is a highly complex topic. If we want to transfer it successfully into our organization, we will have to do this in strategically sensible steps.

The base for all activities is the creation of awareness and understanding, in and across our organization, that D&I management is not only morally right: Institutionalization of D&I in our value system, in our understanding of leadership, commitment and behavior, in our business and decision-making processes and in our market strategies is essential to adequately address the needs of our people and our clients.

Building on that base, various agents and levels have to be empowered to actually work with the concepts, tools and methods of effective D&I. In 2009 alone, there will be 15 interactive Diversity workshops for about 40% of our partners across GSA, based on the belief that a successful D&I strategy requires a top-down approach. Our leaders have to ensure that D&I considerations are included in our processes, including rotation, client assignments, mobility experiences, performance evaluation, promotion, etc. At the same time, all employees need to be addressed. Currently this is done via various communication channels, with a focus on raising awareness of the need to reflect upon one’s own values and frame of reference on a day-to-day basis. As a next step, D&I skills need to be systematically included in the training program. An inclusive mindset has to become a prerequisite skill for promotions and leadership roles. We will build this by defining this specific competence, the related training, awareness modules and self assessment tools.

We have defined a number of methods to measure success, including:
• analysis of the diversity represented in our current partnership and leadership roles and the corresponding pipeline
• integration of D&I aspects into employee surveys and feedback processes
• review of turnover, career development experiences and promotion within our various groups.

The final goal of these initiatives is not only the elimination of discrimination but also the comprehensive and sustainable management of diversity as an asset that creates value for our company, our clients and markets and society at large.