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Deloitte
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Deloitte is officially one of the 50 Best Companies to Work for in Ireland, according to a detailed assessment by the Great Place to Work Institute Ireland. This prestigious honour was announced by Mr Mícheal Martin, TD, Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment on March 1st prior to an awards ceremony in Dublin’s Croke Park Stadium attended by over 600 guests.

This is the fourth year in a row that Deloitte has been named as one of the 50 Best Companies to Work for in Ireland and for the previous three years the firm has been the only professional services firm to qualify for the award.

Deloitte, one of Ireland’s leading professional services firms, provides audit, tax, consulting and financial advisory services through nearly 875 people in Dublin, Cork and Limerick. Known as employer of choice for its innovative human resources programmes, the firm is dedicated to helping its clients and its people excel.

Deloitte’s Managing Partner, Pat Kenny said, “We are delighted to be leading the way among the professional services firms in pioneering excellence in Human Resource practices. We view our people as our greatest asset and are constantly looking at new initiatives designed to enrich their working environment. It is our belief that investing in people, encouraging them to achieve a strong work-life balance and providing support for their personal and professional development, is the key to having happy productive and successful people, best equipped to meet our clients’ needs.”

The Best Companies study sets out to identify and recognise the finest employers – and therefore the most satisfied workforces – in Ireland and throughout the European Union. The Irish study is the largest annual labour force survey undertaken in this country. This year over 100 Irish companies were surveyed with a total workforce of more than 90,000.

Orla Graham, Head of HR in Deloitte, attributes the firm’s great achievement in winning this award to a number of initiatives that have proven extremely popular with staff. One such initiative is “Equilibrium; Accounting for Life”. This programme aims to encourage people to achieve a greater work-life balance and makes available to staff a wide range of supports and activities including in-house yoga, massages, Unislim, fitness classes, a dry cleaning service, and guest speakers addressing topics such as sports, nutrition, stress management and parenting.

According to Graham, “We know that staff greatly appreciate the opportunity to avail of these activities in-house and it very much reinforces our culture of caring for our people and enabling them to excel in all areas of their lives.”

It’s the views of the employees that count when deciding if a company will make the Irish top 50 list. A random selection of employees in each participating organisation complete a confidential questionnaire, rating their employers on almost 60 elements covering credibility, respect, fairness, pride and camaraderie in the workplace. Surveys are returned directly to the Great Place to Work Institute by each individual employee, thus ensuring confidentiality – and honesty.

Minister Martin congratulated Deloitte on its achievement: “I wish to congratulate Deloitte on its superb achievement in the 2006 “Best Companies to Work for in Ireland” competition. Deloitte is one of a group of fifty who have demonstrated exceptional commitment to attitudes and policies that make your organisation a great place to work. By promoting best practice in the workplace, Deloitte contributes to the development of national competitiveness and helps to realise Ireland’s broader economic and social objectives.”

ENDS