PROUD TO SUPPORT LGBT EQUALITY
EY HAS LONG BEEN A STRONG AND VOCAL SUPPORTER OF LESBIAN, GAY, BISEXUAL AND TRANSGENDER (LGBT) WORKPLACE EQUALITY
Our UK and Ireland LGBT employee network was set up in 1995 and was one of the first of its kind in the private sector. Since then, Unity EY’s global “network-of-networks” for LGBT people and their allies – has become established across the world, with 4,500 members in 77 countries including the USA, Ireland, Japan, Hong Kong, Australia, Taiwan, Canada, Singapore, Germany and, most recently, Mexico, to name a few.
It is also important to us that the network is open and inclusive to everyone, whether LGBT or an ally, which is why Unity is EY’s “LGBTA”
network. And for us “Ally” doesn’t just mean straight people, to us it means anyone on the broad spectrums of sexual orientation and gender identity who are supportive but doesn’t identify as being “LGBT”. Our network was established to bring together individuals regardless of sexual orientation, gender identity, status or the extent to which they are “out” – unified in purpose.
EY is committed to doing its part to build a better working world. Unity contributes to this by focussing on the development of our people, strengthening the impact of the network in our offices throughout the UK and Ireland, and partnering with a variety of LGBT organisations in this endeavour.
We’re very proud that EY continues to be recognised as a Stonewall Star Performer organisation in the UK and we’re also proud to continue to be named one of the top “Places to Work for LGBT Equality” in Ireland by GLEN. This is superb recognition of our work on LGBT workplace equality, but we can’t rest on our laurels. We maintain committed to continuing to drive the advancement of LGBT workplace equality both in the UK and Ireland and beyond. We are in great company, and are heartened by the sheer number of organisations that are championing these issues not just because it is the right thing to do, but because building a workplace where everyone, whether LGBT or not, can feel free to be themselves is just simply good business sense.
As part of this commitment, we are proud to work with our other employee networks in promoting equality and inclusiveness. An example of this is our cross-network celebration of International Women’s Day, happening as this goes to press, celebrating the efforts of both women and their male allies who are “bold for change”.
We are also delighted to have supported National Student Pride again this year, having been headline sponsor since 2011. It is a great way of connecting young people from across the LGBT community and introducing them to forward thinking employers who value diversity and different perspectives in the workplace. At EY we passionately believe that recruiting, developing and nurturing a diverse range of talent helps creates the highest performing teams and enables us to reach better decisions and provide better advice to our clients. It’s a business imperative and each of our Unity members helps to bring this culture to life.
“Building a workplace where everyone, whether LGBT or not, can feel free to be themselves is just simply good business sense”