About the company

It is one of the fig four accounting firms which have headquarters in London U.K. EY (Ernst and
Young) provides one of the largest professional services in the world and is the part of the big four. It
has 231000 employees in more than 150 countries. It provides mainly four services that are
assurance, tax, consulting and advisory services. It is a consulting firm which provides solutions to
companies for assurances, tax, advisory and transactions.

In 2017 EY was ranked 29th best company to work in top 100.

History

EY is basically a series of mergers and acquisitions. The original partnership was found in 1849 in
England and Pullein. In 1903 the firm became Ernst & Ernst which in 1906 was changed to Arthur
Young & Co. In 1989 the number four firm Ernst & Whinney and the number five firm Arthur Young
merged and formed a new firm Ernst & Young.

Diversity Definition

Diversity basically means any dimension that can be used to differentiate any group or people from
one another. Each comes up with a different level of skills, mentality, beliefs, knowledge etc. To
leverage each of these traits inside a group can give that group a distinctive advantage in itself. That
is the main reason the world is going towards diversity as a important strategic tool inside their
organisation.

For EY Diversity is like their second nature.

Inclusiveness Definition

Leveraging differences to achieve better business results; creating an environment where all people
feel, and are, valued is known as inclusiveness.

Recent EY ranking and progress

At EY, D&I is fundamental to their business model and to creating a sense of belonging for all of their
people,” said Karyn Twaronite, EY Global and Americas Diversity & Inclusiveness Officer and U.S.
Executive Committee member. He said “We are gratified to be among DiversityInc’s top 10
companies for diversity and to be recognized for our efforts to connect and inspire our people
through a truly diverse workforce and inclusive culture.”

In DiversityInc they are rank no 1 in so many factors such as

Top Companies for People with Disabilities
#1 – Top Companies for Employee Resource Groups
#1 – Top Companies for Mentoring
#1 – Top Companies for Executive Women
#1 – Top Companies for Diversity Councils
#4 – Top Companies for Recruitment
#7 – Top Companies for Global Diversity
#7 – Top Companies for Supplier Diversity
Recognized as one of the Top 19 Companies for LGBT Employees
Recognized as one of the Top 19 Companies for Global Diversity

Progress of EY and their future in Diversity and inclusiveness

First phase-Building foundations and raising awareness (2009-2012)

 Tried to get engaged with stakeholders and build the business case and formed DI and
Employee councils
 Reviewed the policies for inclusivity and tried to have some measures for that.
 Jobs guides for launched for flexible work environment
 They set gender diversity target and measured those. Feedback surveys for females were
made available
 Ran some surveys to measure the gender diversity and launched Reconciliation plan for that

Second phase-Integration with the business diversity (2013-2015)

 They moved from awareness-raising to changing the behaviour as they inculcated the
principles in business processes and market strategy
 Increased the gender parity at the senior level also. It increased the no. of senior female
partners
 Four editions of Women in Leadership Series were published
 Released their RAP status report which detailed our indigenous internship program

Third phase-Focus on creating the high performing teams (2015 & beyond)
 Continuing with the increase the no. of females at each level and also the increase of
minority leaders
 Aspire to be seen as diversity and inclusiveness leaders among all clients
 Equipping their people with all the skills to lead inclusively by recognising, valuing and
leveraging the values of each of them
 Maintaining the vigilance of using the D&I in their day to day decision making processes.
 Focus on key areas of diversity such as gender, ethnicity, LGBTI inclusion to grow a complete
diverse organisation.

“People are at their happiest and most productive when they feel free to be themselves, we want
EY to be a place where everyone can bring their whole selves to work.”
-----------Lynn Kraus, National Unity Executive Sponsor
This line basically emphasises the focus of the organisation to build a diverse organisation and how
to use it as a strategic advantage.

The network of EY
The networks of EY are a valuable resource to their organisation and the Diversity & Inclusiveness
strategy of EY relies on harnessing their power to achieve their wider strategic objectives
The ways in which these network groups contributes to the objectives:

 The networks make others aware of the diversity of EY and promote their inclusive
leadership
 Educating the business by raising awareness of the issues facing some of our people groups
 It attracts the top talent across the world with diverse knowledge and skills
 It provides the employees the perfect opportunities to grow both as a person and as a
professional and create a sense of affinity with the organisation
 It creates the opportunities to connect with colleagues across all our service lines and in
different geographical locations, providing wider personal networks.
 Opportunities to connect with the different markets by engaging with our clients and
potential clients
 IT challenges the businesses to ensure that inclusive practices are “ business as usual”

How does D&I drive performance

Their own research of EY showed that the the EY groups with best in class engagements have better
retention, high revenue growth and higher profitability.