Ernst & Young LLP ranks No. 3 among DiversityInc’s Top 50 Companies for Diversity

Ernst & Young LLP was named No. 3 on The 2014 DiversityInc Top 50 Companies for Diversity list yesterday evening, building upon the momentum of its 2013 No. 4 ranking. The firm earned its place in the top 10 for the sixth consecutive year and in the top 50 for the 11th time, further validating its strong and sustained commitment to diversity and inclusiveness. According to DiversityInc, more than 1,000 organizations responded to its survey to inform its list, marking the highest participation to date. 

“Diversity and inclusiveness are cultural — and commercial — imperatives that help differentiate EY in today’s global marketplace,” said Stephen R. Howe, Jr., EY Americas Managing Partner and Managing Partner of Ernst & Young LLP. “Our clients come to us with incredibly complex challenges. We address them by bringing together our teams’ many different skills and perspectives to transform individual talents into collectively powerful solutions.” 

DiversityInc CEO Luke Visconti said the following in recognition of the global EY organization: “In the top 10 for the last five years, EY becomes the top-rated professional-services organization. EY’s remarkable effort to implement and communicate diversity-management initiatives in the Americas is led by EY Americas Managing Partner Steve Howe and EY Americas Inclusiveness Officer Karyn Twaronite. Progress has been significant each year.” 

DiversityInc also announced a number of specialty lists, with Ernst & Young LLP ranking as follows: 

• No. 1 Company for Diversity Councils 
• No. 1 Company for People With Disabilities 
• No. 4 Company for Global Diversity 
• No. 4 Company for Supplier Diversity 
• No. 5 Company for Mentoring 
• No. 6 Company for LGBT Employees 

Karyn Twaronite, EY Americas Inclusiveness Officer and a partner of Ernst & Young LLP, added: “We’ve long known that diversity and inclusiveness create a competitive edge. EY’s research consistently shows that when our people feel valued for their unique talents and insights, together we create the highest performing teams that deliver exceptional quality and client service. Differences present opportunities. Inclusiveness drives results.” 

Leaders share insights at Top 50 events 

The 2014 rankings were released at the DiversityInc Top 50 Announcement Event in New York City on April 22, which convened more than 750 business leaders. Prior to the announcement dinner, two EY leaders spoke at the Best Practices Conference, with EY Global Chairman and CEO Mark Weinberger delivering the first keynote of the day addressing “The Power of Diversity in a Global Economy.” 

Later that morning, Jeffery Perry, EY Global Capital Transformation Operational Leader, Transaction Advisory Services, led a session on “How to Develop a Future Workforce,” offering his perspectives as Chairman of the Board and as an EY executive sponsor for INROADS, an organization with a mission to develop and place talented minority youth in business and industry and prepare them for corporate and community leadership. Perry’s Ieadership story was featured in the Winter 2014 issue of DiversityInc magazine. 

Global CEO clearly communicates his commitment to D&I 

In addition to his role at the conference, Weinberger recently spoke with Visconti about how diversity and inclusiveness are central to EY’s Vision 2020 business strategy and the success of its high-performing teams. He said, “The real differentiator for us has been saying, ‘This is not an initiative.’ A high-performance team has to be diverse and inclusive….this is the heart of EY’s strategy. It is part of our business and it’s built throughout our business.” 

Additionally, Weinberger spoke with Visconti about the new global diversity and inclusiveness roadmap EY recently created to guide people in building diverse and inclusive teams and to hold them accountable. He also addressed other actions EY has taken to set the tone from the top that diversity and inclusiveness are business imperatives, such as: further diversifying EY’s Global Executive board; studying the performance of 22,000 EY assurance account teams, ultimately revealing that gender-balanced teams deliver better results from both a financial and quality standpoint; and ensuring that diversity and inclusiveness are represented among the six metrics EY uses to measure the performance of the 10,000 partners of its member firms around the world. 

Read more and watch the videos from Weinberger’s interview with Visconti on DiversityInc.com.