Our people

At Deloitte, we are committed to making a meaningful impact in the communities we live in. We believe human connection can help create innovative solutions and have a lasting effect on pressing issues. Understanding the impact on our society is key to addressing climate change and building cohesive communities that contribute to effective and purpose-driven economies. By harnessing the collective power of our firm, we aim to achieve lasting social impact for the greater good.

Aligning with the DME commitment to empowering 200,000 youth through education and entrepreneurial skill-building by 2030, mentoring at Deloitte has a strategic focus on making an impact that matters and represents the firm's commitment to growing our leadership pipeline, contributing to women's advancement, supporting succession planning, and upskilling to ensure a future-ready workforce. With over 90 nationalities, Deloitte ME continues to provide opportunities to expose our workforce to different cultures, experiences, and perspectives.

At DME, we have a dedicated Purpose, Culture and Inclusion team that works to provide our people with the best working practices that prioritize wellbeing and foster an inclusive and thriving culture valuing diversity. By putting our people at the forefront of our efforts, we focus on developing inclusion programs such as AllyME, our DME Allyship Program, SponsorME, Mentor ME, and Womentor to name a few.

One of the most recently launched initiatives is AllyME. Building inclusion and support for all people aims to drive positive change toward enabling diverse and underrepresented groups to feel heard and perform at their best. Through the AllyME initiatives and our allyship advocates, our firm continues to set the standards for inclusion, respect, and allyship.

DME also launched a formal sponsorship program named SponsorME which aims to accelerate and increase the pipeline of women for promotion to partner levels and leadership roles. The sponsorship program is integral to the DME gender strategy, and it is a commitment to advocate and create advancement opportunities for high performing individuals. It's not just talking to people about their careers; it's about leaning in and providing the critical client and project experiences, exposure to other influential leaders, and advocacy that will accelerate a sponsoree's career.

In addition, MentorME is a mentoring program designed to develop top performing leaders, and Womentor is particularly designed for Deloitte women to further advance in their careers and assume leadership positions. This year's Mentor ME program cohort demonstrated an increase of more than 100% of mentee participation compared to last year across the program, and from a gender-lens, we have made a continuous effort in making an impact that matters through progressing our diversity ambitions and our commitment to gender balance within the firm.

Cynthia Corby, Audit & Assurance Partner at Deloitte, continues to drive the gender diversity agenda with the ACCA Women in Finance platform, promoting gender balance with an increased emphasis on mentoring programs for female talent.

Further supporting the agenda, we have ensured that all of our female talent have had the opportunity to grow within their role through the power of mentoring with an increase of 27% in women's mentee representation in just 5 years. 

Correspondingly, mentoring programs have been a strategic focus in creating a positive impact on our society. The D-180 is our flagship virtual mentoring program, which was launched in April 2020 as part of our response effort to COVID-19. D-180 provides youth across the Middle East and Cyprus with informal mentoring and extra-curricular learning opportunities. Through D-180, Deloitte professionals are paired with mentees to support them on their skill-building and employability journeys. Mentors expose the mentees to the world of work, support them in setting and reaching goals for entering the market, and act as soundboards to mentees' challenges. The length of the relationship is 6 months, and to date, we have mentored 350+ youth and are about to launch a series of new cohorts. 

In addition to the above, we have launched several other programs to create a further impact on our society. Through the Digital Youth Program (DYP) we aim to bridge the digital divide by offering laptops to students, schools, women entrepreneurs, and small and mid-size enterprises (SMEs). Laptops going to students are uploaded with e-learning software that allows them to learn math, science, and language for grades 1 to 12. We have impacted more than 4,500 people during the past 5 years.

The Deloitte Accelerator for Social Innovation (DASI) aims to help address the region's social challenges by empowering and supporting small and mediumsized social enterprises to grow and scale their impact. We offer two winners a pack of pro-bono advisory services valued at over $US100,000 in addition to providing them with mentorship, networking, and skills development opportunities.

Additionally, in our aim to centralize, the center of excellence within the Audit & Assurance function is a key initiative that supports the upskilling of fresh graduates and university students in coding and data analytics, as well as other documentation and testing requirements via the Shared Service Center. The center has created over 20 internships in FY22 and is continuing to evolve. As the future of audit evolves, so does our business to ensure that we are future-ready.

Following this, the mobility program has allowed professionals the opportunity to transfer (based on availability) to any member firm, and in return, enhance their learning and experience. In line with our commitment to gender diversity and building skills, we have several female interns who have come on board after a career break, successfully securing full-time positions in the team; we also have several employees on the ACCA Program scheme, which is a qualification that enables you to become a Chartered Certified Accountant, further supporting our commitment to creating job opportunities and upskilling.

Globalization and demographic changes are reshaping the way organizations around the world interact with the talent market. One of our goals is to continuously ensure we identify and retain "high-potential" talent, particularly among nationals. Jazla Hamad, Deloitte's first Emirati woman Partner, continues to drive the nationalization agenda as a key focus area, especially in our capital markets. The Sri Lankan secondee program and Jordan resource group have collectively made a positive impact on resource management, further creating job opportunities and cross exposure to employees across member firms. In our commitment to developing work practices that support agility, we have in place several agile working programs such as HybridWorks, flexible work arrangements, part-time work arrangements, purchase of additional annual leave, and sabbatical leave. Making space for the different facets of our lives enhances the well-being of our employees and families, and society at large.

Taking on the commitment to drive purpose, which is at the heart of everything we do, our Deloitte Middle East Purpose Council was founded to continue to foster a positive impact on our people,
clients, and wider society.

Our Skills Academy is laying foundations for a career in Audit & Assurance

For many young people, starting a career can seem daunting. But a successful initiative in the UK and Middle East is easing the transition for new recruits joining Audit & Assurance.

The Skills Academy is designed to give everyone the same experience and the best start possible. This year, hundreds of new joiners have been through the programme, helping them to develop the capabilities, confidence and contacts to flourish in their career.

Competencies and consistency
The academy programme provides participants with a high-quality springboard into a career in Audit, giving them the opportunity to work on live projects while learning a consistent set of core competencies.

After it launched as a pilot in the UK in 2018, the initiative proved so successful that it was extended to all new joiners across Audit, and a second programme was introduced in the Middle East in 2020.

This year alone, over 600 participants have been through the UK academy and 160 through the Middle East – including interns, graduates, our BrightStart apprentices, and students on industrial work placements. 

A valuable steppingstone

Umar Patel is among our alumni. He took part in the UK initiative in November 2021 after joining our BrightStart scheme, an earn-while-you-learn apprentice programme for school leavers, and the academy proved a great steppingstone to the working world.

"There were so many new people to meet and new things to learn and taking part in the Skills Academy helped to build my confidence," he says. "You develop skills like communication and how to use certain software and programmes. Having that knowledge is priceless."

It also provided a networking opportunity that will benefit Umar throughout his career. "Getting to know people is a big part of working at Deloitte and, through the Skills Academy, you meet others in the same boat and feel supported. I still talk to people from my rotation, which has been great."

Putting learning into practice
In the UK, cohorts complete a three-week rotation, guided by a dedicated team leader, with a mix of virtual and in-person working.

"A key aspect of the Skills Academy is preparing participants to work on live projects. We task them with either live work or case studies – meaning they can quickly put what they've learnt into practice," explains Taisheen Anver Khan, who drove the UK roll out.

For Deloitte Middle East, which covers 15 countries, the programme targets permanent hires and interns, and the rotations are around eight weeks.

"For us, the Skills Academy is a haven where everyone is taught in the same way. There are no cultural barriers or hierarchies, and people are given the space and time to learn. Also, rather than just training, it's providing real, practical experience," says Vinod Ganwani, who leads the initiative in the Middle East.

Everyone benefits
Ultimately, everyone benefits: the individuals and the teams they go on to work in. It's also proving a hit among colleagues who sign up as cohort team leaders.

Feedback shows they enjoy their role because it's so different from their day job," says Taisheen."Over the course of the programme, they see how participants develop and get a real feeling of satisfaction. They love that aspect of it."

Skills Academy participants have also been overwhelmingly positive, with around 90 per cent of the UK participants agreeing it's been valuable for them.

For Taisheen, there's a sense of pride in watching the Skills Academy develop. "I've been part of this for a number of years now, and you get so emotionally invested," she explains. "I'm delighted to see the impact it has had on so many people."

"Rather than 15 associates joining separately, and managers teaching the same thing in different ways, why not bring them together? It improves consistency and creates an environment where they can support one another." Vinod Ganwani, Senior Manager, Audit & Assurance, Deloitte Middle East.

The working environment over the past two years has seen a profound paradigm shift. Even with technological advances, societal changes in Europe and North America, and the encouragement of greater flexibility in the way we work, it still didn't lead to the mass migration from office to home as many advocates had expected. It took a global pandemic for businesses and governments to rapidly adapt to the changing circumstances to ensure business continuity, which has shaped the workplace of today and the future.

The global adaption of flexible working, in many instances, has become the norm; and it is unlikely that the requirement to be at a desk permanently will ever return. According to a study by Stanford University, the blend of remote and office-based working has a benefit that is equivalent to an 8% pay increase, with organizations such as JP Morgan Chase announcing that they expect 40% of their colleagues will now work in a flexible manner.

Deloitte Middle East has equally embraced the benefits of flexible working with the launch of HybridWorks in December 2021. HybridWorks is a framework of what flexible working is and how it is to be applied. It provides flexibility and choice about when, where, and how our colleagues work in line with our business needs, whilst creating an optimal environment for colleagues and clients, enabling our business to thrive, and continuing to make an impact that matters. In essence, HybridWorks is a combination of virtual working experiences and coming together through intentional in-person moments that matter.
 
A reflection of our next normal
The rapid change to working remotely has demonstrated that Deloitte Middle East was still able to deliver effectively for our clients, and by 2021, it was evident that colleagues had taken the initiative in determining what worked best for them and for our clients.

Before the formal introduction of HybridWorks, Audit & Assurance had updated the Team Pledge. And while this was originally a covenant to each other to uphold our commitment to the public interest and foster a unique talent experience by embracing a number of non-negotiable principles, this has been enhanced to reflect the next normal.

In summary, these principles are:

1. Working in our next normal;
2. Raising our hand;
3. Continuous learning and professional development;
4. Living our on-the-job coaching model; and
5. Quality is our top priority.

Specifically, on our next normal, Deloitte Middle East colleagues have committed to building wellbeing norms within their team channels. The aspiration is to ensure we commit within our teams to protect our collective wellbeing and impose boundaries between work and personal life. As an example, this could involve blocking time in their calendar when needed to focus on a personal commitment.

Principles also remain flexible
Although this is a model that provides a framework, it is a principle-based approach, and all colleagues are to apply their own judgement depending on the situation at hand. So essentially, we are also flexible in our flexibility approach.

HybridWorks is driven by four key principles:

1. People-centric: Prioritizing "moments that matter" and understanding our people's expectations and needs for their growth, development, and optimal talent experience;
2. Client focused: Co-locating with our clients as determined by their preferences while factoring in the requirements of our work, quality measures, and the needs of our people;
3. Powered by inclusion and wellbeing: Offering flexibility and trust which are central to an environment where everyone can be successful;
4. Driven to achieve climate goals: Aligning with our goals under WorldClimate to reduce carbon emissions spent on travelling and commuting.

 The optimization of remote working experiences and coming together through intentional in-person moments is the key benefit of our approach to flexible working. We promote being intentional about meeting in person for moments that matter for client services, innovation, connecting, and collaborating with clients and teams, while facilitating personal growth, development, and wellbeing.

Exercising good judgement always
The success of HybridWorks is about having mature and pragmatic conversations and determining when it's best to come together for those moments that matter. Underpinning the four key principles, there are also six dimensions that have helped our colleagues to apply their best judgement when it comes to utilizing the principle that suits their particular scenario:

1. Promoting flexibility: Making the call based on information whether to work at home, the office, or client site;
2. Fostering collaboration: It can be challenging to work virtually but with the right technology and approach, there is guidance available to help optimize in these situations;
3. Nurturing personal development: Learning does not need to take place in a physical classroom or office; much of our learning is virtual. Colleagues can take control of when, where, and how to drive development;
4. Applying client rhythms: Collaborating with clients and understanding what works best for them;
5. Wellbeing & Inclusion: The pandemic has made this an acute issue and many colleagues have faced challenges in looking after their and the wellbeing of family, friends, and colleagues; and
6. Driving sustainable behaviours: Thinking about our own footprint with regards to the planet, e.g., questioning whether we need to drive to the office and if working remotely will suffice.