Mentoring – the best of both worlds
Each month, hundreds of our people take part in long-term mentoring programmes operated across the UK, including our continually popular secondary school mentoring and number and reading partner schemes. We offer a number of ways for our people to get involved, with our focus being to enable our people to use their skills and expertise to help disadvantaged communities. The firm offers our people a half-day per month - a total of 6 days a year - for approved volunteering projects.
London-based mentor Chris Goodgame, a director in Corporate Finance, explains why volunteering through Deloitte pays almost as many developmental dividends to him as it does to his mentees. Chris takes his mentees on tours of our London campus, introduces them to colleagues and partners and helps them prepare résumés, job applications and develop interviewing skills. "In return," explains Chris, "I gain a completely different - and much more diverse - perspective on the world." Chris finds his mentoring experiences rewarding in other ways, too. He says: "In particular, I was really pleased when one of my former mentees went on to university last year - and told me that he wanted to continue our arrangement, even though he's finished school".
The Fresh Futures Mentoring Programme, in partnership with Tower Hamlets College
Abdi Bahdon is 18 years old, studying A-levels in Psychology, Sociology and English Literature (mentored by Chris Goodgame)
What were your main aims and reasons for joining the mentoring programme?
"My aim was to meet new people who could bring me new ideas about the industry and the world of work. I can gain experience and also at the same time, they can learn from me and I can learn from them."
What have you learnt from being mentored?
"My mentor taught me how to become independent, how to stand up on my own two feet. How to look at life from a different angle and take every opportunity that comes my way, even if it is minor thing."
What would you say to a prospective mentee?
"If you think that you are struggling, or you are having any problems with your work, organisation, or you don't really have an idea of what university you want to go to, I would advise you to get a mentor and talk to them. It would be a great help. I think that having a mentor is not really hard work, but it takes commitment."
Community days
We work in partnership with Community Service Volunteers (CSV), to deliver our Community Days programme nationally. We support our people to make a visible contribution to the local community. Our Community Day programme gives groups of up to 200 people the chance to help out on a variety of community and environmental projects. These projects are incredibly popular with our people, as they give them an opportunity to give back to their local communities with an increasing focus on sustainability and regeneration.
In 2007/08, 2,238 Deloitte employees volunteered 16,068 hours on 126 community projects over 35 community days, representing a 32% increase in our volunteer participation from 2006/07. Many of our volunteers revisited venues and sites they had worked on previously, which highlights our focus on building sustainable partnerships through volunteering.
Consulting make a huge contribution to the community in just one day
In a single day last year, over 300 employees from Deloitte's Consulting practice contributed 2,121 hours to more than 20 different community projects, including primary schools, disabled charities, a psychiatric charity, an environmental project, and a young women's project.
Employees who took part in the day reported that it helped to improve their teamwork and 90% said that they felt positively about the firm as a result (source: CSV feedback).
"I thoroughly enjoyed doing something different with my day and supporting an amazing team" Elga Long, Consultant.
CommunityMark
This year, Deloitte was awarded the CommunityMark by Business in the Community - we were one of only 21 companies to receive this honour.
The CommunityMark is a new national standard that publicly recognises companies that are the best investors in their communities. This national standard is endorsed by government and the voluntary sector, and supported by HRH The Prince of Wales, president of Business in the Community. Its aim is to improve the impact that community investment has on business and society. Successful CommunityMark companies have passed a rigorous, independent assessment of how they invest in and work with their local communities, including scrutiny by their employees and community partners.
Deloitte Chairman, David Cruickshank, received the CommunityMark award on behalf of Deloitte at 10 Downing Street on 7 July 2008. We were awarded the CommunityMark because we demonstrated a long-term, high-level commitment to investing in our communities. We were also recognised for following good practice and for making a real difference.
Contribution to the arts
This year, Deloitte has invested in a five-year partnership with the Royal Opera House, making us one of their top three commercial sponsors. Deloitte's support is enabling the Royal Opera House, a world-class venue and a registered charity, to stage an annual innovative festival aimed at a younger and more diverse audience.
The first Deloitte Ignite festival was staged in September 2008. Curated by Wayne McGregor, it included contemporary work from artists including Julian Opie and Ravi Deepres and dance performances from Wayne McGregor Random Dance with children from the South and East of England.
Tony Hall, Chief Executive of the Royal Opera House said: "I'm thrilled that Deloitte has made this significant investment into the arts at the Royal Opera House. They have come on board as one of our major sponsors for an exciting new initiative. Deloitte Ignite is all about bringing a new audience into the Opera House - young professionals who are currently under-represented here - and offering something contemporary and different to inspire them to become excited about opera and ballet".
