Talent drives our business.
Achieving supreme market leadership depends on our ability to deliver exceptional service to the market.
Managing Partner for Talent John Kerr explains: “We do this by building long term relationships with our clients and by focusing passionately on quality and innovation in everything we do.
“All of this, however, would be impossible without the best people – and without our ability to provide them with opportunities to develop and progress quickly. This means building a mentoring culture, giving our people opportunities to work with the best – and using our unrivalled depth and breadth to provide our people with a wide range of career options.
“It means also that we won’t compromise on our standards of quality – only the best is acceptable for our clients. This cycle of development, coupled with the highest standards, creates the partners of tomorrow.”
Internal move proves just the job
Last year, Simon Davis – then a London-based manager in our Audit service line – found himself at a career crossroads.
“My Audit job had taught me a huge amount. However, having predominantly worked for the same client for several years, I needed a change – to accelerate my rate of development again.”
Simon decided to look for his next opportunity within another service line – and eventually transferred into our Corporate Finance Insurance practice.
This new role has seen Simon working on financial due diligence projects for insurance brokers and companies, commercial due diligence and strategic advisory work in the corporate and Lloyd’s markets – and on secondment for six weeks with a City client.
“The variety of work and people I’ve been exposed to since starting the new job fully vindicates my decision to pursue an internal opportunity,” he says.
“My learning curve has steepened again, I’ve gained new skills, improved my market and commercial knowledge hugely – and broadened my internal and external network.”
Drive for development works both ways
Our drive to develop our people paid off once again in June – when we promoted 42 new partners, 20 new associate partners and 128 directors. Here, some of our new partners and associate partners talk about how our organisation has helped them develop – and how they, in turn, have helped bring our Talent agenda to life for people working in their part of the business.
Birmingham-based David George is a new associate partner in our Audit service line. “I’m part of a fast-growing team and one of the key reasons for our success has been the opportunity to encourage and push our people into new or different roles in support of our growth – be it managing a client relationship, developing a new service offering or undertaking a key operational role.
“My approach has always been to be part of a genuine meritocracy, a firm in which people progress solely because of their performance and contribution. The firm’s Talent agenda and the detailed implementation of this in the individual service lines has greatly facilitated this objective – with the opportunity to promote based on ability rather than simply time in grade.
“Meanwhile, I myself have participated in a wide range of different developmental activities since joining Deloitte. Most recently, the training I received as part of the firm’s Director Development Programme was particularly helpful and relevant. Also, the associate partner assessment process had a real focus on preparing candidates for what the firm will expect of them post-promotion. I really appreciated the opportunity to build relationships with fellow candidates and to share experiences with them. And now that I’ve been promoted, I’m looking forward to playing an even bigger part in the firm’s efforts around mentoring, too.”
Leeds-based Simon Prinn is a new partner in our Tax service line. “A lot of different partners have been prepared to invest their time in me since I joined the firm. They’ve made the effort and have taken the time to consider how they can help me to develop. Sometimes this has been nothing more than a little recognition and positive feedback for a job well done. At other times, however, the gloves have come off and they’ve pushed me out of my comfort zone – and haven’t been afraid to have the hard conversations with me.
“In turn, I’ve reciprocated by always doing my best to develop talent within my team. It takes a lot of time and energy – and you really have to discipline yourself to prioritise it, especially when there are a huge number of screamingly urgent client demands to deal with. Nevertheless, I always carve out time in order to focus on what someone needs to do in order to get to the next level. Developing your people pays massive dividends in the long term – for me, for the rest of the team and for the entire firm, too.”
We’re making it easier for everyone at Deloitte to work flexibly
Our organisation offers a competitive reward strategy that provides our people with the freedom to make their remuneration package as unique as they are. Specifically, this year we’ve extended fully paid paternity leave to two weeks, and increased our career break option from one to two years. And to celebrate our achievement of £2bn revenue in the past financial year, the firm recently rewarded each employee with a special performance award of £1,000, as recognition of the role each of them played in the realisation of this key strategic goal.
We go to great lengths to take a big picture view of our peoples’ needs and to help them balance their life at Deloitte with their commitments outside the office.
We do this by offering our working parents 20 days of emergency back-up child care at minimal cost – plus priority access to a full-time and permanent place within a nationwide network of high-quality nurseries.
Bright Horizons “delivers tangible work-life balance”.
Bright Horizons – Deloitte’s back-up child care service – is helping to deliver a tangible work-life balance to Sophia Steiger, a director in our Consulting service line.
Explains Sophia: “Using Bright Horizons means that, once in a while, I’m able to drop my two-and-a-half-year-old daughter Octavia at nursery and then collect her at the end of the day – rather than the onus being on my husband taking her to his workplace nursery five days a week.
“The service, therefore, gives us real – and affordable – flexibility. To me, it’s a true demonstration of what it means to work with Deloitte.”
Sophia used the service for the first time when her husband was away. “I phoned Bright Horizon’s central help desk and quickly located a nursery only 15 minutes from my home in north west London. I rang them on the Wednesday and booked a place for the following Friday. All-in-all, it took about fifteen minutes to book her in.
“Then, on the day, I simply turned up with the registration forms, Octavia and her favourite bear. I met the nursery manager and Octavia’s key worker for the day, we had a look around, Octavia settled in with the water play – and was off.”
At the same time, our innovative wellbeing programme has this year seen us offer everyone at Deloitte access to a generously subsidised and fully equipped state of the art gym and ongoing support and guidance on how to live a happier and healthier life.
The past year has also seen us launch Flexibility and Choice, a firm-wide programme that helps clarify our flexible working benefits and principles, making it easier for our people to apply to work flexibly. John Connolly explains: “If we look at our senior grades, we can see that while we’ve been making steady progress toward increasing the proportion of female directors and partners, the levels don’t reflect the number of women who join us as graduates.
“Research tells us that some women leave because they don’t think the opportunities are there for them – at least not in a way that’s acceptable to them. For example, some women leave because they don’t feel the firm can offer the degree of work-life balance they need. They’re happy to be dedicated to the business – but not so dedicated that it absorbs so much of their time and energy that they’re unable to enjoy a meaningful family life.
“We’ve responded to this by clarifying the firm’s approach to flexible working and by making it easier for everyone at Deloitte to apply to work flexibly. As a result, quite a high proportion of our female employees and partners now work flexibly, including part-time.“
“I’m better motivated at work all round, because I feel there is a balance in my life.”
Guernsey-based Jo Huxtable – a director in our Tax service line – works three long days Wednesday to Friday and from 8.30am to 2.30pm on Monday, making up the hours on other days – including during the evening.
“Being able to work flexibly means a lot to me, as it allows me to spend time with my children after school during the week and, therefore, have more of a work-life balance.
“While at work, I’m focused and organised enough to ensure I can complete work within the reduced hours. And when I’m at home, I’m happier – as I have time with my family, which is very important to me.
“The business doesn’t suffer because of these arrangements, as I ensure I’m available at all times. And, in any case, my clients are aware of my hours and we work around them without any unmanageable problems.
“Meanwhile, I’m better motivated at work all round, because I feel there is a balance in my life, which makes me more productive. And with the business helping me to balance life inside and outside work, I feel like putting more back in when I am at work.”
Attracting and retaining a diverse workforce.
Diversity programme delivering firm benefits
Our Respect, Inclusion and Diversity agenda is an important part of our drive to develop and deliver a high-performance culture.
Our commitment to this agenda, and to the diverse insights and advantages it delivers to Deloitte, remains absolute – and enjoys sponsorship at the highest levels of the firm.
John Connolly comments: “Our Respect, Inclusion and Diversity agenda is a key determinant of our organisation’s ability to become supreme market leaders.
“Supreme market leadership isn’t just about being the biggest or most profitable firm. It means also leading in a broad and big picture way – including becoming the business that the best people want to join and want to remain with.
“That’s why, as well as leading our competitors in criteria such as revenue, profit and clientele, we need also to lead the market in areas such as sustainability and diversity.
“We can’t afford to be the best in only a few areas – especially when it comes to fulfilling the needs of the most talented people.”
Our Deloitte Networks
Deloitte’s internal diversity networks connect partners and employees who share affinity indicators such as gender, race, religion and sexual orientation.
With more than 2,500 members, these groups provide our people with a shared sense of belonging; help them balance their working and non-working lives; and build bridges between our talent and the world outside the firm.
Our Women’s Network provides a good example of the benefits these groups are delivering to our people.
Launched on International Women’s Day last year, the network provides our female partners and employees with a forum to develop relationships with existing and potential clients – and to build an internal network within which our people can access role models and raise issues relevant to women in the workplace.
Network sponsor and Forensic & Dispute Services partner Emma Codd explains: “Deloitte is addressing the challenge of making sure a greater proportion of our women make it into senior roles within the firm. The network’s primary objective is to support women coming up through the firm’s ranks.”
Beth Green, an assistant director in our Corporate Finance service line, is living proof of the development dividends the network is delivering.
Explains Beth: “Since signing up, I’ve been able to network with women in the firm whom I wouldn’t otherwise have met. In particular, the events have given me access to a number of senior female partners who’ve built successful careers here at Deloitte, partners who can advise me how to follow in their footsteps – while providing me also with insights into other areas of our organisation.
“It’s also been very reassuring to realise that other women in the firm are facing many of the same issues I am – and to learn how they’re dealing with them.”
A place where women want to work
The past year also saw Deloitte win external recognition as a place where UK women most want to work.
The Times Top 50 Where Women Want to Work list allows potential recruits to research and compare employers.
This year’s list attracted hundreds of entries from a wide range of the country’s leading organisations. Specific awards were presented to organisations fielding the best entries in five categories.
Deloitte won the award for connectivity, a category that assessed entrants’ ability to keep their people linked into – and engaged with – their organisation. In particular, the judges were impressed by the firm’s appropriate use of social networking tools, by its deployment of internal and external blogs and remote working technology, by our role modelling through employee profiles and by our use of internal seminars to spread knowledge and understanding. Deloitte was the only Big 4 firm to win a category award, sharing the limelight with Google, Cisco, Citibank and McDonalds.
Our Women in Leadership group
Margaret Ewing, Deloitte Vice Chairman and Chair of the Women in Leadership Group
Our Women in Leadership group is another strong change catalyst in the drive for equality within our organisation.
Margaret Ewing, the group’s Chair explains: “Our Women in Leadership group, established a year ago, is made up of senior management – both male and female – from all of Deloitte’s business units, together with the firm’s Managing Partner for Talent.
“The group is charged with improving the firm’s gender diversity – particularly with regard to the retention and development of our female talent.
“For example, the past year has seen the group recommend and establish informal female partner network and mentoring groups. Among many other advantages, these groups have provided a forum through which our female partners can develop their own support network and access female role models and mentors. This initiative has proved so successful that the firm is now planning to cascade it to our directors and senior managers.”
Positive action
Adds Margaret: “In general, we recognise the need to take certain positive actions to allow us to realise our gender ambitions. For example, our Board, our Executive and our partner group simply don’t reflect the gender split of the graduates who join us each year.
“So, for the past several years, the firm has taken steps to ensure our Board includes at least two female partners.
“This kind of positive action at the highest level sends the right messages – and is helping Deloitte redress our current gender imbalance.”
