Employer of Choice for Women
At Deloitte, we have two complementary aspects to our corporate vision. The first is to remain the professional services firm of choice for women. The second is to be seen as Australia’s most inspiring professional services firm. These two aspirations are inseparable. We cannot achieve one without the other.
Our women’s program is not a project but a firm wide strategy - one which, to the leadership of Deloitte, makes simple business sense.
The program was formalised in 2000, when we developed a business strategy focused on:
- Creating an inclusive culture driven by the leadership of the firm
- Increasing the number of women in leadership positions by promoting talented women
- Investing in talent identification, development and recruitment
- Building an appropriate environment to retain talented women
- Positioning the firm as the professional services firm of choice for women.
That strategy developed into our Inspiring Women program and has led to us winning the Federal Government’s Equal Opportunity for Women in the Workplace Agency’s (EOWA) award for being the Leading Organisation for the Advancement of Women in 2008. Deloitte has also been recognised as an Employer of Choice for women for the last 11 years by the agency.
Inspiring Women is not simply about increasing the number of women we recruit, but rather supporting and developing women across the entire span of their career. It is a program that is vibrant, diverse and practical, and that responds to the real issues women face in business today.
“Inspiring Women benefits all employees, including men, as it drives change in the workforce. Unless we have men, as well as women, involved as Inspiring Women champions we will not achieve what we set out to achieve.” Margaret Dreyer, Senior Partner
Driven by the leadership of the firm
Inspiring Women is championed by the CEO of Deloitte Australia Giam Swiegers, and led by Senior Partner and Deloitte board member Margaret Dreyer, and People & Performance Partner, Alec Bashinsky. A number of senior partners - both women and men across the firm represent their regional office and service line as Inspiring Women champions. This ensures that everyone at Deloitte is aware of, and able to support and participate in the program. It also ensures higher levels of engagement are achieved and key messages developed at this granular level. These Inspiring Women champions report to the CEO on the progress and outcomes of the program.
To drive an inclusive culture across the firm’s leadership, our CEO has incorporated performance metrics that measure business segment leaders on the number of women leaders as well as the retention of women in their teams.
“There’s been a lot written recently about quotas. I’m not a fan of quotas as they often don’t attract the right behaviours. I do believe that any business that is serious about improving opportunities for women should have targets.” Giam Swiegers, CEO
Only at Deloitte...
Let’s take a moment to hear from some of Deloitte’s female talent about why that “only at Deloitte” do they choose to pursue a career.
 |
Melisa Blohm |
|
Elizma Bolt |
|
Cadence Hart |
