Where we stand today: Progress and the work ahead

Introduction

Over the years, Deloitte has led with our commitment to a diverse workforce and inclusive culture. We’ve evolved our approach to meet the changing needs of our workforce and driven new ways of thinking for the greatest impact. With the publication of our inaugural Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Transparency Report in 2021, we entered a new phase of our journey guided by data and our people’s experiences, with an emphasis on advancing equity. We shared workforce data in an unprecedented level of detail and pledged to act on its insights, use the data to inform our decisions, and be transparent about our goals and progress toward them.

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Watch: Kavitha Prabhakar | Continuing our DEI journey: Deloitte’s multiyear strategy

With a clearer understanding of where we needed to focus, we introduced thirteen 2025 DEI goals,1 developed with the US Executive Leadership Team and governed by our US Board. The goals are meant to be both aspirational and realistic, and were informed by extensive analysis, external benchmarking of the US population, demographic composition of the Deloitte talent pipeline,2 and market trends. We follow a rigorous process to pursue these goals, including monthly reporting and interim goals intended to keep momentum toward making meaningful change. We expect overall trends to be positive and anticipate minor ebbs and flows in progress from year to year. While many of these goals focus on overall representation of female professionals and those with specific racial and ethnic identities—some of our greatest areas of opportunity—all of our people are reflected in this report and our DEI ambition.

Our ambition is to set the standard for DEI by creating the culture and systems that help ensure everyone is empowered to thrive as their exceptional selves and reach their full potential.

Learn more about our data definitions and methodology

  1. Goals are not quotas. The policy of each Deloitte US firm is to seek and employ people with skill and integrity and to provide them with the means to develop professionally, without regard to race, color, religion, creed, citizenship, national origin, age, sex, gender, pregnancy, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, marital status, disability (including neurodiversity), genetic information, veteran status, or any other legally protected basis, in accordance with applicable federal, state, or local law.
  2. Analysis was informed by the National Center for Education Statistics at the Institute of Education Sciences. Tabitha M. Bailey and William J. Hussar, Projections of Education Statistics to 2028, 47th Edition, National Center for Education Statistics at the Institute of Education Sciences, US Department of Education, May 2020.

An update on our progress

Goal 1: Increase the number of Black and Hispanic/Latinx professionals in our US workforce by 50%

43.8% increase in the number of Black and Hispanic/Latinx professionals since FY2020

Since FY2020, we have increased the number of Black and Hispanic/Latinx professionals by 43.8%, making progress toward our goal of increasing by 50% by 2025. This translates to a net headcount increase since our last report of 2,573 Black professionals and 1,692 Hispanic/Latinx professionals, a result of progress with both hiring and retention. Attrition of Black professionals is below the overall Deloitte US workforce, meaning Black professionals are leaving at a slower rate than their peers. This contributed to an increase in Black representation to 8.6% from 6.6% in the 2021 DEI Transparency Report. Hispanic/Latinx representation increased to 7.4% from 6.5%. While attrition for Hispanic/Latinx professionals is above overall attrition for the Deloitte US workforce, strong recruitment is driving an increase in headcount and representation. Continued progress retaining Black professionals and a greater focus on retaining Hispanic/Latinx professionals is needed to achieve this goal.

Learn more about how we are making an impact for Black professionals and communities.

Learn more about how we are intensifying our focus on increasing representation of Hispanic/Latinx professionals.

Goal 2: Increase the overall racial and ethnic diversity of our US workforce to 48%

46.8% overall percentage of racial and ethnic diversity in Deloitte US workforce

We have increased overall racial and ethnic diversity from 44.5% in FY2020 to 46.8%, putting us on track to reach our goal of 48% by 2025. Increases in Black representation to 8.6% and Hispanic/Latinx representation to 7.4% contributed to this increase. Representation of multiracial professionals increased (4.5%, +0.9 percentage points) along with professionals Indigenous to the Americas (1%, +0.8 percentage points). Asian representation decreased by 1.4 percentage points from 28.5% in the last report, a change which is driven largely by increased attrition. Retention of Asian professionals is an area where we will continue to focus.

Learn more about how we are addressing Asian attrition and supporting the Asian community.

Goal 3: Increase US workforce female representation to 45%

44.1% female representation in the Deloitte US workforce

While we are on track to meet our 2025 goal of 45% female representation, progress has been minimal with a 0.4 percentage point increase since our last report. Attrition for female professionals remains lower than for male professionals and the overall workforce. While female recruitment representation increased year over year (from 40.9% in FY2021 to 43.2% in FY2022), it remains below female representation. At 48.5%, female campus recruitment representation remains above female representation while female experienced hire recruitment representation, at 41.5%, is below representation. Recruitment, and specifically experienced hire recruiting, will be a continued area of focus in the next fiscal year.

Learn more about our efforts to drive transformational change in female representation.

Goal 4: Increase the representation of racially and ethnically diverse US partners, principals, and managing directors (PPMDs) to 25%

23.0% of our US PPMDs are racially and ethnically diverse

We are currently on track to reach our goal of increasing the representation of racially and ethnically diverse3 US PPMDs to 25%. In fact, in FY2022, the group of professionals who advanced4 to PPMD was the most diverse in our organization’s history. Racially and ethnically diverse candidates represented 35.6% of the FY2022 class while racially and ethnically diverse professionals make up 46.8% of our total population. In addition, 40.8% of those directly admitted as partners or principals or hired as managing directors in FY2022 identify as racially and ethnically diverse. We will continue to intensify our efforts to keep momentum and will continue to take deliberate actions related to sponsorship, deployment, and development to help prepare professionals for PPMD advancement.

  1. Diverse racial and ethnic groups include Asian; Black; Indigenous to the Americas; Middle Eastern, North African, Near Eastern; Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander; multiracial; and professionals whose ethnicity is Hispanic/Latinx.
  2. Includes professionals who were promoted to managing director or admitted as a partner or principal. Does not include direct hires.

Goal 5: Increase the number of female US PPMDs by 25%

9.3% increase in the number of female US PPMDs since 2020

Since 2020, we have increased the number of female PPMDs by 9.3%, putting us on track to meet our goal of increasing the number of female PPMDs by 25% by 2025. In FY2022, the female PPMD representation in the newest PPMD class was strong at 42.7%, contributing to the most diverse group of professionals who advanced to PPMD in our history. While we continue to see progress, intensifying our efforts to expand the gender diversity of our pipeline for PPMD candidates, namely increasing representation of female experienced hires at the manager and senior manager levels as well as direct admits and hires at the PPMD level, will enable us to build on our impact.

Read more about what we are doing to advance equity in talent acquisition.

Goal 6: Address talent experience inconsistencies so that Black, Hispanic/Latinx, nonbinary, and LGBTQIA+ professionals feel they can be their authentic selves in the workplace at a rate consistent with the overall workforce

The percent of positive responses on this question from Black and LGBTQIA+ professionals from FY2020 to FY2022 increased 5 percentage points, respectively

Data disclaimer: In FY2020 Hispanic/Latinx was included as a race option, so data is not available. Then in FY2021 we disaggregated race and ethnicity.

Status: On track

Each year, we conduct a talent survey to gather direct feedback on the Deloitte talent experience. We consider any question rated 80% or above to be positive. For the overall population, favorable responses to the statement “I am able to bring my authentic self to work” increased from 82% favorable in the FY2020 Talent Survey to 83% in the FY2022 Talent Survey. Favorable responses increased for Black professionals from 74% to 79% and for LGBTQIA+ professionals from 76% to 81%. We attribute this progress to collective actions that celebrate and honor identity, provide space to build community based on shared identity, and engage professionals in active allyship.

We know that we can’t lose focus on talent experience and culture. Favorable responses from Hispanic/Latinx professionals dropped by one percentage point from 84% to 83%. Favorable responses from nonbinary professionals decreased from 76% to 68% between 2020 and 2022. We will continue to focus on authenticity and addressing inconsistencies with the overall workforce.

Explore more findings from our annual talent survey.

Goal 7: Develop an understanding of fundamental anti-racism concepts, and cultivate allyship and advocacy by providing DEI education across all levels

Ribbon icon
95%
Of our US professionals completed anti-racism training
Calender icon
45,000+
Attended or viewed at least one of seven national history and heritage month celebrations this year
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85%
Favorable responses to LOOP survey question, “This person empathizes with others with different life experiences, looks out for potential biases, actively fosters DEI learning, and uses their voice and power to advance equity.”
Status: On track

Strengthening an inclusive culture where everyone feels like they belong requires action and intention from every Deloitte professional. We intensified efforts to provide opportunities for individual and collective learning, unlearning, and relearning. For example, we rolled out a mandatory training, “An Introduction to Deloitte’s Commitment to an Anti-racist Culture,” that has been completed by 95% of Deloitte US professionals to date.5 In addition, we kicked off a Year of Allyship in January 2022 and have embedded an allyship component into each of our history and heritage month celebrations, reaching more than 45,000 people. To support individuals as they continue their allyship journeys, we launched a live virtual allyship session, a series of microlearnings, in-person immersive learning experiences, self-paced guides, a glossary of current and retired DEI terms, and more.

Culture enhancement doesn’t happen immediately, but we are encouraged by the results we are seeing. For example, in our upward and peer feedback tool, Leadership Observations & Opportunities (LOOP), 85% responded favorably to the newly added question, “This person empathizes with others with different life experiences, looks out for potential biases, actively fosters DEI learning, and uses their voice and power to advance equity.”

See Chief DEI Officer Kavitha Prabhakar’s thoughts on the importance of allyship for our strategy.

  1. The 5% who have not completed this course represents individuals who are new to Deloitte and will complete the course in the required time period.

Goal 8: Increase the amount of addressable spend on diverse suppliers to $1B by 2025

$1.05B

Total spend with diverse suppliers in FY2022, surpassing our FY2025 goal three years ahead of plan.
Status: On track

Total spend with diverse suppliers6 in FY2022 was $1.05B, surpassing our goal of $1B by FY2025. Over a four-year period, our diverse supplier spend is up over 40% when compared to our spend of over $700 million in 2019. This year, we will be evaluating our longer-term commitments as we continue executing procurement process changes led by our Office of Business Diversity, established in early 2021.

Learn more about the new Office of Business Diversity and our efforts to advance equity in the marketplace.

  1. A diverse supplier is a business that is at least 51% owned and operated by an individual or group that is part of a traditionally underrepresented or underserved group. Common classifications are small-business enterprises (SBEs), minority-owned enterprises (MBEs), and woman-owned enterprises (WBEs).

Goal 9: Increase our spend with Black-owned and Black-led businesses to at least $200M by 2025

$65M /$200M

The spend with Black-owned/Black-led businesses is trending favorably toward the $200M target based on FY2022 actuals of $65M.
Status: On track

We are on track to meet our goal of increasing spend with Black-owned and Black-led businesses to at least $200M. Our immediate focus has been the development of educational and growth accelerator programs, which resulted in $65M in spend with Black-owned and Black-led businesses in FY2022. We expect to continue this progress through our new Office of Business Diversity, which was established in early 2021.

Learn more about the new Office of Business Diversity and our efforts to advance equity in the marketplace.

Goal 10: Collaborate with clients and industry leaders to drive workforce initiatives

$75M

$75M total investment in the Making Accounting Diverse and Equitable (MADE) initiative
Status: On track

As a leading employer in the United States, we continue to help expand access to economic opportunity and social mobility by working with clients, industry leaders, social impact organizations, and coalitions to support broader ecosystems focused on increasing education and workforce development opportunities. Two examples include MADE and OneTen.

Making Accounting Diverse and Equitable (MADE)

Deloitte is helping to transform the future of the accounting profession through a comprehensive strategy that addresses the barriers faced by racially and ethnically diverse students and grows the diversity of the accounting talent pool. With the launch of Making Accounting Diverse and Equitable (MADE), Deloitte is making a multiyear, $75 million commitment to attract racially and ethnically diverse people to the accounting field and support them as they chart their path. Deloitte is committed to generating more advisory, auditing, and tax career opportunities and leadership pathways for the next generation of certified public accountants (CPAs).

Through the Accounting Scholars Program, the Deloitte Foundation expects to fund $30M in financial support for more than 30 fully paid scholarships in the 2022-2023 academic year for students pursuing a fifth-year master’s program in accounting at select participating colleges and universities. The remaining $45M of the strategy includes investment and support for the following:

  • Stride CPA Readiness program (entry-level professionals/CPA candidates)
  • Deloitte Academy: Accounting Edition program (high school students)
  • Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU)/Hispanic-serving institutions strategy (academia)
  • Climb Fellowship program (mid-level accounting professionals)
  • MADE working group (accounting ecosystem leaders)

OneTen

As a founding member of OneTen, Deloitte has joined more than 60 other US employers to help collectively upskill, hire, and advance one million Black Americans with less than a four-year degree into family-sustaining jobs with opportunities for advancement over the next 10 years. This year, Deloitte is launching six talent pilots across our Consulting and Risk & Advisory businesses, as well as the Enabling Areas, which includes internal functions such as Finance, Marketing, and Talent, to test two distinct workforce solutions for increasing access and opportunity and diverse talent:

  • Professional development pathway: A program solving for the experience gap faced by early career hires without degrees or job experience, providing a structured pathway and credential.
  • Skills-first hiring: A hiring approach that reconfigures job roles and postings, in terms of skills, removing degree requirements where they are not needed.

These pilots will target roles across skills relating to cloud engineering, cyber, ServiceNow, technology operations, executive services, and more. They are being designed to help Deloitte scale and expand diversity of educational experience throughout our business while broadening the talent pools from which we draw, consistent with our workforce strategy. Efforts like these advance our commitment to DEI and to the OneTen coalition to achieve lasting impact for Black talent.

Read more about how MADE is driving systemic change in the accounting profession.

Read more about the OneTen coalition, its mission, and its skills-based approach to closing the opportunity gap.

Goal 11: Drive institutional and systemic change through policy initiatives

Justice scales icon
Support civic engagement and voter participation by joining Civic Alliance and Time to Vote, and launched a “Get Out to Vote” campaign
Status: On track

In early 2021, Deloitte joined fellow members of the Business Roundtable to support bipartisan efforts to protect voter rights and honor the struggle of so many who fought to ensure the right to vote for every American. We also joined Civic Alliance and Time to Vote, nonpartisan business coalitions focused on increasing civic engagement and voter participation. Internally, Deloitte launched a “Get Out the Vote” initiative in 2020, providing paid time to vote and for approved volunteer activities. We will continue to offer time and resources to voting-eligible professionals so that everyone is empowered and equipped to vote.

Deloitte continues to engage in discussions that inform policy positions on ethical technology, education, workforce development, and health equity. We believe we will have a greater opportunity to make an impact through policy initiatives in FY2023, particularly on issues that affect our professionals and their communities.

Goal 12: Reach 10 million individuals through education and workforce initiatives through WorldClass by 2030

Group of people icon
6.1M individuals reached through FY2022 across various Purpose and firm initiatives
Status: On track

In 2019, Deloitte US committed to helping 10M individuals develop job skills, improve educational outcomes, and access work opportunities in the changing economy by 2030 through Deloitte’s global initiative, WorldClass. Through the end of FY2022, we have reached 6.1M individuals. Our Purpose Office and pro bono initiatives drive our progress, leveraging Deloitte resources and connecting professionals with volunteer opportunities. RightStep, Deloitte’s strategy to help students overcome obstacles they face on the path to college readiness, is an example of how we are using the capabilities of our organization and our people to make a positive impact in the lives of future leaders.

Read more about Deloitte’s WorldClass commitment.

Goal 13: Expand and evolve our mental health programs and resources that help address the needs of our various populations

Head with brain illustration icon
Launched Integrated Mental Health Services to offer relevant psychological health solutions
Status: On track

In 2021, Deloitte launched a new benefit plan called Integrated Mental Health Services (IMHS). Since the launch, IMHS has worked across Deloitte to provide cohort-specific, culturally relevant psychological health solutions to our organization, such as leadership advisory/consultation, private counseling and consultation access, and treatment navigation support. IMHS continues to curate a group of mental health professionals and performance psychology consultants who are representative of Deloitte’s diverse workforce, representing more than eight races and ethnicities, speaking 16 languages, and offering culturally relevant expertise on gender, sexuality, and a broad range of psychological disorders.

Progress and potential

To make progress toward our DEI ambition, we refreshed our multiyear DEI strategy with the 2025 goals as a guide. We are focused on equitable outcomes, not only within our talent practices and all client-facing and operational activities, but also within our communities. We are evaluating our systems, processes, and policies with an eye on equity, promoting a culture of transparency and accountability, setting expectations for inclusive behavior and allyship, and positively impacting the communities in which we live and work.

Group of diverse people on a sofa drinking coffee

A call for collective action

Every person has the power to advance equity and strengthen a culture of inclusion and belonging.

Read more

Progress toward our 2025 goals indicates we are headed in the right direction. In fact, we have exceeded some expectations, met certain goals, and are advancing faster than expected toward others. And yet we cannot become complacent. We will continue to push for further growth and momentum.

As we dig deeper into the data and gain a fuller understanding of our people’s experiences, we can be more deliberate in the areas that require our attention. In the next year, we will be intensifying our focus on the following:

  • Continuing our efforts to elevate the experiences of all women at Deloitte—including women with diverse racial, ethnic, and gender identities—as we strive for transformational change in overall representation and in leadership roles.
  • Maintaining progress with retention of Black professionals and focusing greater attention on the retention of Asian and Hispanic/Latinx professionals given their attrition rates remain higher than our US workforce.
  • Building on the success of our diverse supplier journey and increasing spend with Black-owned and Black-led businesses.
  • Designing new and transforming existing business and talent processes with a focus toward driving equitable outcomes.
  • Taking a more active role in informing and contributing to institutional initiatives and policies that align with our values in ethical technology, education, workforce development, and health equity.
  • Seizing more opportunities to foster a culture where all our professionals feel celebrated, heard, and valued.

Our progress thus far is a result of individual and organizational commitment and intentional action by our professionals and leaders. This collective work continues so that we remain on track for our 2025 goals. We know this is a journey and are regularly evaluating our strengths as well as additional opportunities to advance equity for all.