Maintaining a diverse culture
Our competitive advantage is highly dependent upon our ability to leverage the differences of our people to create diversity of thought.
Ernst & Young has been recognized for its efforts in maintaining a diverse culture with a number of
awards, including ten consecutive years as one of the
FORTUNE "100 Best Companies to Work For",
Hispanic Business magazine's Top 50 Companies for Hispanics, and
DiversityInc. magazine's Top 50 Companies for Diversity.
Maintaining an inclusive environment at Ernst & Young—one that respects and builds on the assets and talents of everyone to create diversity of thought — is the main focus of the Offices of Minority Recruiting and Diversity Strategy and Development.
Both offices work with national and local organizations that promote the interest of minority groups and continually seek to align Ernst & Young with those that promote the interests of diverse professionals while encouraging the leaders of tomorrow. As a result, leaders from both offices are often called upon to share best practices and participate as speakers and panelists at professional events.
Office of Minority Recruiting
Ernst & Young was the first Big Four firm to assign full-time, partner-level leadership to the important area of minority recruiting. The Office of Minority Recruiting (OMR), a strategic group within Americas Recruiting, is responsible for attracting and recruiting minority professional from a wide range of talent pools, including experienced hires and campus recruits.
OMR sponsors initiatives designed to provide minority students with the support, challenges, and guidance necessary to excel in business careers. These include:
- Outreach activities. Through our support of such organizations as the Accounting Career Awareness Program (ACAP) and A Better Chance, we help raise awareness of career opportunities in accounting, taxation, and advisory services among minority high school students.
- Minority scholarships. Over the last three years, the Ernst & Young Foundation has distributed grants in excess of $1 million in scholarships to undergraduate and graduate minority students majoring in accounting, health care management, information technology, computer science, engineering, taxation, finance, and other disciplines.
- Recruiting programs. We actively recruit at minority schools and universities designated as national recruiting sources, and at various career conferences sponsored by the National Association of Black Accountants, National Black MBA Association, National Society of Hispanic MBAs, and other professional organizations.
Office of Diversity Strategy and Development
The Office of Diversity Strategy and Development (DSD) focuses on the creation of strategies and programs that support career development, workforce planning, communication, and leadership accountability for our minority professionals. Much focus is placed on education, mentoring and networking, which fully supports our
People First culture and commitment to creating lifelong relationships with our people by providing them with the opportunities and tools they need to succeed within our firm and beyond.
Support for these efforts starts at the most senior levels of Ernst & Young. Our Americas Executive Board and senior leadership have taken defined roles for growing our diverse culture. An Ethnicity Diversity Task Force is charged with translating our firmwide vision into action-oriented goals, beginning at the local level. And every year Ernst & Young conducts a Minority Leadership Conference, during which North American minority partners, principals, and directors meet to examine issues and share ideas and best practices regarding diversity and the firm’s culture.
Ernst & Young honored for workplace equity
Ernst & Young has once again been recognized as one of the
Top 50 Companies for Diversity by
DiversityInc. magazine. Our inclusiveness programs support career development, workforce planning, communication, and leadership accountability for minority professionals, with an emphasis on education, mentoring and networking opportunities. Our firm also ranked No. 2 for Asian-Americans; No. 5 for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people; and No. 9 for people with disabilities on the 2007 list.
Our diversity efforts judged ‘Best in Class’
Ernst & Young received top honors at the 9th Annual Best of Class Conference sponsored by INROADS, Inc., the leading provider of employment opportunities for talented minority youth in business and industry in the U.S. In FY 2006, we hired 158 INROADS interns, a 76% increase over FY 2005. Our retention rate of 94.4% of INROADS interns was the highest of any organization, and our firm was among the national sponsors with the
who became full-time employees.
Diverse students discover tax
Some 50 diverse accounting students from across the U.S. now have a greater appreciation for and understanding of what a tax career is like thanks to
"Discover Tax," Ernst & Young's first annual tax diversity leadership conference, which took place in New York City. To find out what attendees are saying about this high-energy program, watch our video.
Companies can help transform public education
Our recent Thought Center Webcast “Best in Class” explored ways top companies can help transform K-12 public education. The topic is also the subject of a research-based white paper on best-practice corporate interventions in education. You can learn more about the report in several ways:
Ernst & Young chairman receives top diversity honor
Ernst & Young’s Chairman and CEO Jim Turley was one of eight corporate leaders to receive the 2006 CEO Diversity Leadership Award from Diversity Best Practices and the Business Women’s Network. Jim was recognized for both his and the firm’s deep commitment to diversity and inclusion.
