EY

Company: EY
Diversity Team Name: EY D&I Teams
Diversity Team Leader(s): Karyn Twaronite
Website: www.ey.com

What Makes this Diversity Team Stand Out

At EY, diversity and inclusiveness (D&I) is embedded into everything we say and do, and part of how we conduct business every day. Championing it is a collective effort, and the firm’s global D&I team of more than 80 people leads programming; employee resource groups (or Professional Networks) l research, learning, and training; communications; and other initiatives.

The team consists of two core and critical groups—the D&I Center of Excellence (COE) and the field Diversity and Inclusiveness Leader (DIL) teams. The COE team develops the D&I strategy, which is significantly influenced by the priorities and commitments of senior leadership. Execution of the strategy is the responsibility of the field DIL and their teams. These initiatives and materials are then put into our people’s hands—in every region; the work of the field DIL’s helps spread the importance of inclusion across our global organization and builds on our culture of belonging.

Over the past year, as many of our people experienced feelings of uncertainty and stress, the D&I teams’ work became even more important. Across the global EY organization, they quickly evolved D&I efforts in response to the COVID-19 pandemic and social crises. This included leading the charge in promoting inclusive leadership practices, providing digital tools, offering resources, and helping facilitate connection points specifically for those disproportionately impacted by world events.

The teams led the creation of EY’s Global Social Equity Task Force, which works to develop and prioritize cohesive global actions specifically addressing inequity and discrimination, including racism. The effort is sponsored by EY’s Global Chairman and CEO, and includes EY leaders from a wide range of backgrounds, spanning geographies, service lines, and functions.

In the United States, the team supported the firm’s efforts to address racism, bias, and discrimination. EY US made several antiracism commitments to drive strategic change in our firm, in our communities, and through public policy. In addition, with the increased focus on D&I transparency, and to continue holding ourselves more publicly accountable and consistently measure ourselves against our own ambition, the U.S. team drove the launch of its inaugural EY DEI transparency report: Pathways to Progress, which focuses on our DEI journey in the United States and highlights our commitment, initiatives, statistics, and impact to date, along with the experiences of our people.

The initiatives and programs created by the D&I teams are consistently recognized by third-party organizations and awards, including these:

  • EY has been named to DiversityInc’s Top 50 Hall of Fame for the past three years, after being named the #1 Company for Diversity in 2017
  • FORTUNE magazine and Great Place to Work Institute have named EY a Best Workplace for 23 consecutive years
  • In 2021, EY was named to the Financial Times’ Diversity Leaders list