E&Y is top gay finance employer
Ernst & Young has been named as the most gay-friendly finance and accountancy employer in the 2010 Stonewall Workplace Equality Index.
The firm was ranked third in the UK’s top 100 public and private sector employers for lesbian, gay and bisexual staff and also received a special award for its EYGLES network, an initiative which supports diversity among its employees. Professional services and investment banking were the two largest private sector industries in the Top 100 for the second year running.
Richard King, deputy managing partner for Ernst & Young (UK and Ireland) and chair of the firms diversity steering group said: “Globally, [diversity] is one of the firm’s global priorities. Ours is a people business and we need to attract the most talented people, and then retain and develop them. It’s a business imperative”.
The key to achieving diversity in the workplace, says King, is down to strong leadership: “Management teams have to recognise that diversity is crucial to the business. If the leadership of the business don’t buy into it, it won’t happen. It’s also important to have good, open communication about it within the business to ensure everyone knows about it. We spend a lot of time explaining why it’s important and why we’re doing it”.
Finally, firms should continuously measure their success, advises King. “We measure both the diversity side – including how many minority groups do we have in our workforce, what the sexual diversity among them looks like and how they are rewarded – and the inclusiveness, i.e. conducting regular people surveys to find out how inclusive those populations think we are”.
“To be benchmarked as one of the UK’s most diverse and inclusive organisations is a huge achievement and recognises the business imperative of creating a work environment where our people are able to be themselves”, concluded Scott Halliday, Ernst & Young’s managing partner for UK and Ireland.
Other finance firms or organistations in the Top 100 included Goldman Sachs at number 5, Barclays at 22, Credit Suisse at 36, Deloitte at 39, HM Revenue and Customs at 45, Aviva at 54, American Express at 58, PricewarerhouseCoopers at 63, JP Morgan and Morgan Stanley at equal 67 and Royal Bank of Scotland Group at 95.
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