Report Makes Case For Diversity

 NEW YORK -- Deloitte  has announced the release of its Diversity & Inclusion "Harnessing our strengths" and the Women's Initiative (WIN) "Unleashing potential" annual reports, which showcase that its commitment to an inclusive workplace environment has never been stronger.  The reports highlight major talent achievements in the past year, and take a look at the business case for diversity.  

"Diversity and the advancement of women and diverse professionals in leadership roles are critical to Deloitte's competitive advantage," said John Zamora, chief diversity officer, Deloitte LLP. "Deloitte's clients expect diverse, high-performing teams that represent different backgrounds and perspectives.  Our organization is committed to providing an environment where all people are respected for their contributions and can do their best work on challenging assignments, attain valuable skills and grow professionally while achieving career-life fit."

The annual reports provide a look at how valuing individuals' differences benefits Deloitte in ways that go beyond the bottom line.  

"Since its launch in 1993, Deloitte's Women's Initiative (WIN) has been a powerful innovation engine and competitive advantage that has helped fuel Deloitte's growth," said Barbara Adachi, national managing principal, Initiative for the Retention and Advancement of Women, Deloitte LLP.  "Advancing women has kept us at the forefront of workforce trends and helped us build a culture that attracts top talent --- both women and men.  Today, we have more than 1000 women partners, principals and directors.  And we have seen how having a pipeline of diverse talent inspires new thinking and brings about fresh approaches to business challenges, which in return enables us to deliver effective solutions for our clients."

Over the past year, Deloitte has seen continued success in many of its Diversity & Inclusion and WIN initiatives that nurture top talent and enable professionals to continually enhance their careers including:

Emerging Leaders Development Program (ELDP) – This professional development program is designed to prepare high-performing minority managers and senior managers for the next stage in their careers.  Participants in this program explore a variety of topics including effective development

strategies, risk-taking, building professional networks and dealing effectively with potential biases in corporate America.  With a 78 percent retention rate among ELDP alumni, the program is positively contributing to Deloitte's leadership development training and retention efforts.

Think Tank – Inaugurated by Barry Salzberg, chief executive officer of Deloitte LLP, the Think Tank promotes diversity and inclusion by inviting senior managers from the Emerging Leaders Development Program to advise Salzberg and other top leaders on critical business issues affecting the workplace, clients and talent.  Since the program's inception in 2006, Think Tank has provided business leaders with a unique perspectives and valuable insights on complex issues.  

Women as Buyers (WAB) – In recognition of the growing number of women executives, this workshop was designed to help Deloitte professionals build stronger relationships with women clients and colleagues by better understanding their buying preferences and decision styles. The workshop is based on a year-long study that identified interesting differences between men and women in business.  For example, male practitioners may be inclined to bring top-level people to proposal meetings with the intention of impressing the client, but many women clients prefer instead to meet the people who will actually do the project work. WAB has had a major business impact, with 56 percent of participants attributing the acceleration of development of relationships with women clients to WAB.

WINning New Business: WINning New Business is a year-long program designed to give high-potential women in senior manager roles the tools to build strong relationships, powerful negotiation skills, and solid personal brands.  

The annual reports also chronicle the awards and recognition Deloitte has earned over the past year as a premier workplace and career destination for diverse talent.  Deloitte was named a Catalyst Award winner for the second time and 2010 marked Deloitte's fifth consecutive year on Working Mother's "Best Companies for Multicultural Women."  Deloitte was also named onDiversityInc's "Top 50 Companies for Diversity" and on the Human Rights Campaign's Corporate Equality Index.