Big Four firm reveals socio-economic and education data on partners
Data reveals that nearly half of all Deloitte staff attended a comprehensive school, as the accountancy firm looks to improve its social mobility
DELOITTE has published socio-economic and educational data on more than 1,000 of its staff and partners, in an increasing effort to clampdown on social mobility barriers.
Nearly half (43%) of its workforce attended a non-selective state school, with 16% attended a grammar school, while one fifth studied at an independent school.
More than half of its employees became the first in their family to attend university, while just under a tenth of staff received free school meals. Deloitte is using this information to help evaluate the impacts of its recent changes to its recruitment policy.
In September the Big Four group revamped its selection process in a bid to stop recruiters from knowing where candidates went to school or university. The firm also doubled the size of its BrightStart Business Apprenticeship Scheme, creating an additional 100 jobs for school leavers.
David Sproul, senior partner and chief executive of Deloitte UK, said: “We want to show that everyone can thrive, develop and succeed in our firm but realise that a perception exists among some that the professional and financial services sectors are a ‘closed-shop’.
“This view is not helped by the lack of information available. We hope that by publishing this data we can go some way to dispelling this myth, whilst also recognising that we have a lot of work to do before we truly reflect the clients and communities we serve.”
Managing partner for talent Emma Codd added that Deloitte is continuing to improve the transparency and accuracy of its recruitment process, while urging other businesses to “remove barriers to progress”.