|
Before 1917 there was no income tax. Before 1867 Canada was not a confederation. But before both these historical events, there were the roots of a company that would become Ernst & Young.
A.C. Ernst and Arthur Young have both been gone more than half a century but their standard for innovation and drive, sensitivity and concern, honesty and trust lives on. Or so it would seem. One doesn’t get into all seven editions of Canada’s Top 100 Employers—and be the only one of the Big Four accounting firms to achieve that—by accident.
 “We don’t talk about creating a work environment that’s inclusive for minorities or women or GLBT people. It’s for all our people. So whether you’re that single, white, straight male, it’s about you too,” says Sadaf Parvaiz, EY’s manager of inclusiveness. “It’s about making sure when you wake up in the morning and walk through the doors at E&Y, you feel like you can develop yourself and really get the best of the firm and provide the best solutions to our clients.”
It was, in fact, this “people first” attitude that was the catalyst for EY’s diversity efforts back in the 1990s. It came in the form of a company-wide People Survey. The results revealed certain trends, gaps between male and female respondents, specifically that women were less satisfied with their jobs than men. That’s when “a light bulb went off.”
“And that’s where we started on this journey, the early stages of our gender equity effort,” Parvaiz says, explaining the result was the Professional Women’s Network. “That was back when we thought it was the right thing to do. Now it’s both the right and the smart thing to do.”
 Bruce Goudy, a partner at EY and the Canadian area leader for bEYond, the firm’s GLBT network, is in total agreement.
“In addition to being the right thing to do from our perspective, there’s also a business case for it. If we don’t have everybody, including gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered individuals at work, then we miss out on a great talent pool of thoughts and diverse ideas from which we can develop unique solutions…for our clients.”
Parvaiz is quick to point out that inclusiveness is not a human resources initiative; it’s simply the way EY does business. And she gives credit to EY’s CEO and Chair Lou Pagnutti who Parvaiz says is “not just a figurehead who is just kind of speaking to these topics. He really truly feels it’s important to the success of the firm and to the success of our people.”
What Goudy calls “top down endorsements and grassroots initiatives.”
Both the Women’s Professional Network and bEYond are in each of the firm’s 13 offices across the country. Parvaiz calls them the “eyes and ears” of the company. In the case of bEYond, Goudy says it ensures “that everyone (can) be themselves at work and focus their energies on coming up with great solutions and great ideas…(and not) live in fear that somebody may find out that they happen to be gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender.”
“My job is 100-percent dedicated to thinking about (inclusiveness) and how to support our people and making sure they’re getting the opportunities they need,” Parvaiz says, pointing out that when it comes right down to it, “Everyone owns inclusiveness.”
People. The word tells the Ernst & Young story.
“We don’t hire people for the sake of their gender or sexual orientation,” Goudy says. “We hire people for their talent.”
The end. Or is it?
Goudy wraps up the story with a bow: “Once inclusiveness in all areas gets to a point where people can just be people and be themselves and be accepted, not just tolerated, but be accepted and appreciated for their differences everywhere, then we know we’ve achieved inclusiveness.” |
