Millions of people around the world are held back from achieving their full potential.
Through our WorldClass programmes, we invest in innovative approaches to support education, skill development, and training opportunities so everyone can succeed in the modern economy.
Our Development Programme, launched in 2020, supports those in the international protection process or in direct provision in Ireland to advance their careers. The Development Programme offers a six-month internship within Deloitte, to individuals who have submitted their application for international protection/refugee status and are awaiting a final decision. To date, we have positively impacted twenty individuals and their families within the direct provision system in Ireland. The Development Programme provides invaluable opportunities to build relevant skills and gain experience in the Irish market. It also opens doors to explore career growth areas for the future.
In 2024, we launched an additional online pre-programme to complement the six-month internship. Fifty candidates were invited to participate in a twelve week online work readiness programme to support their employment journey.
Deloitte also collaborates with Business in the Community Ireland, to deliver an important WorldClass programme called ‘Time to Talk’. This is a language skills programme created to support those who have found themselves outside of the workforce for extended periods of time. It specifically aims to help people from immigrant and refugee backgrounds to gain more confidence in their English conversational skills.
Breda Hegarty, a Career Counsellor with Business in the Community Ireland’s EPIC programme, shares: “During Covid, we noticed that participants on our programmes were getting really worried that they were losing their level of English, with no opportunities to practice.
“We reached out to member companies to see if any could volunteer to support our clients, and Deloitte volunteered immediately. Working with them, we co-created our Time to Talk programme.”
The programme has grown to sixty participants each year and we’ve augmented it with ‘Time to Talk’ tasters. This involves participants coming onsite to Deloitte for an hour-long speed chatting event. Apart from practicing English, it also helps to take the fear out of working in a large corporate environment.
One of the participants of Business in the Community’s ‘Time to Talk’ programme applied for Deloitte’s Development Programme and is now working as an intern in Deloitte. Talking about her journey, she said: “Time to Talk helped me to have more confidence - my English was very poor, but now I can't say that anymore. As well as having a chance to practice my English, I also got help with CV and interview skills.”
Katie Ryan, who works in Deloitte’s Social Impact team, explains that seeing this journey from completing ‘Time to Talk’ to securing a position as a full-time intern with Deloitte is a full-circle moment for our WorldClass ambition. “We hope that the joined-up thinking demonstrated by EPIC can act as a best practice model for other companies, and that the concept can spread in the months and years to come.”
