Thursday, 09 February 2012

Ernst & Young ranked best gay friendly accountancy employer

Thu, 14 Jan 2010

Ernst & Young has emerged as the top gay-friendly accountancy employer in the 2010 Stonewall Workplace Equality Index.

Ranked third in the national benchmark, Ernst & Young’s EYGLES network was also named the ‘Employee Network of the Year’.

The firm’s gay, lesbian and bisexual network was recognised for successful internal events, buddying and mentor schemes, and engagement with its clients.

Scott Halliday, UK and Ireland managing partner says: “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. We want Ernst & Young to be a place where all our people have the potential to thrive and succeed.”

The full Workplace Equality Index list can be found on the Stonewall website at: www.stonewall.org.uk/workplace.

Readers' comments (6)

  • Sandra Thomas | Sun, 17 Jan 2010 1:16 am

    Speaking as a lesbian, I have to inform you that Stonewall's index is, I am afraid, much devalued in recent years.

    It is a good idea in principle, but the simple facts that companies assess themselves, and can only be included IF they pay Stonewall £2,000 every year to be included, turns this index into something much less than what it pretends to be.

    How many companies in Stonewall's index are small businesses - ie the places most of us actually work in the UK? None. Why? Because if you won't pay Stonewall £2,000 they won't include your company.

    It is disheartening to see here your coverage of what many of us in the LGBT community long ago dismissed as a Stonewall PR and money-making exercise.

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  • TJ | Thu, 21 Jan 2010 9:33 am

    Sandra,

    Speaking as a gay man, I would like to disagree strongly with your argument that the WEI has become devalued in recent years. Ridiculous. If anything, it has increased in value and impact.

    The published index is only the Top 100 of what, this year, was apparently over 350 entrants, many of whom are small businesses.

    Stonewall is a charity and needs donations to survive and continue their valuable work. It is also naive and misleading to simply state that companies 'pay £2,000 to be entered in the index' as that £2,000 is for membership of Stonewall's 'Diversity Champions' programme, giving employers access to a wide range of resources including a dedicated account manager at Stonewall who will work with them to help improve their engagement with LGB employees. It is not simply a 'fee for entry into the WEI'' as you seem to think.

    Some cynical people in the LGBT community may, as you seem to, feel that the WEI is simply PR and money making on Stonewall's part, but many more (in fact, the majority I would say) see it for what it really is: a valuable exercise for the UK's employers in measuring their performance in the field of LGB employee engagement and a visible symbol of their commitment to the LGB community.

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  • Simon M | Thu, 21 Jan 2010 2:12 pm

    Quick response to Sandra who clearly hasn't done her research.

    Participation in the Workplace Equality Index is completely free of charge. It is free to enter, free to be marked and free to receive a ranking against other competing organisations.

    Stonewall is also a charity working to improve the working lives of millions of lesbian, gay and bisexual people in Britain. Charity workers need to be paid, and with the overwhelming majority of funding coming from individual donors, it's almost criminal that you would accuse Stonewall of a PR and money-making exercise.

    Next time, do your research and don't spout off.

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  • Alex | Thu, 21 Jan 2010 9:22 pm

    Personally I would rather people keep these issues to themselves. At work I don't go around talking about my personal preferences etc and would appreciate it if other people followed suit.

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  • Richard Adams | Fri, 22 Jan 2010 8:27 am

    Speaking as a gay ex-employee of Ernst and Young I can throughly agree with this article. EYGLES (pronounces eagles) provided not only a great social network but also a great network of contacts at work. It was easy to settle into EY life straight from Uni and I would encourage any employer to give due consideration to sponsoring similar networks in their own businesses.

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  • Jonathan Payne | Fri, 22 Jan 2010 5:18 pm

    What a ridiculous article. Surely it doesn't matter what your sexual orientation is. If the LGBT community want to be accepted as 'normal' then surely they should stop going on about it. I am heterosexual by the way, however, I don't go preaching it to everybody.

    Cue the abuse...

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