Celebrating our progress toward equality
At Accenture, our unwavering commitment to inclusion and diversity (I&D) creates an environment that unleashes innovation—allowing our people to perform at their best and have an equal opportunity to belong, advance and thrive. We closely and regularly measure our progress toward advancing an inclusive culture by conducting internal audits and participating in external benchmarks. That’s why we are so excited to have scored 100 percent on the 2021 Workplace Pride Global Benchmark (“Global Benchmark”)—marking our sixth consecutive year of strong performance.
Achieving 100 percent reflects our longstanding commitment, and everybody’s effort at Accenture, to accelerate equality for all. With 90+ chapters across 45+ countries, our Global Pride Network drives our inclusive culture every day through local programing, awareness-raising initiatives, and creating a space where our people can connect and be themselves. Together with our thriving global Pride ally community of more than 120,000 people, our journey to an equal workplace continues to make great progress.
How we’re furthering LGBTIQ+ inclusion
We are especially thankful for our talented and passionate team of I&D experts who spearhead our global efforts, develop our strategies, and deliver our programs—cultivating a company culture where our people can live authentically and thrive doing so.
To ensure our commitment to equality is being advanced globally, we conduct a regular audit across all our locations against key metrics that measure LGBTIQ+ inclusion—what we refer to as our “Pride Scorecard.” We proudly provide equal same-sex benefits in every country where the law permits, and we continuously update our company’s healthcare plans to provide trans-affirming benefits—currently available in 14 countries (up from three)—to ensure we’re providing our transgender people with the benefits they need. This work is only beginning, with plans to expand to more countries every year.
We offer continuous learning opportunities to equip our people with the knowledge and skills to be effective and inclusive leaders. Our flagship leadership development program—“LGBTIQ+ Leaders Learning” (L3)—provides high-potential LGBTIQ+ and ally leaders with the information, tools, and support to continue to build their careers and develop into role models and managers. We also regularly host global virtual events and training programs on topics such as coming out across cultures and supporting transgender inclusion in the workplace.
Our IT systems allow our people to select their pronouns and prefixes to create an Accenture persona that reflects their gender identity, even when this may not be their legal gender. Additionally, our voluntary self-identification options enable our people to confidentially disclose information about their gender identity, sexual orientation, and more (in countries where this is legally possible). By collecting this data, we can better understand our people and create tailored I&D programs.
We proudly collaborate with our clients and partners on LGBTIQ+ equality initiatives and actively join with LGBTIQ+ networks at universities to host recruitment events. In 2021, we joined forces with CVS Health and its Pride Colleague Resource Group to co-host the LGBTQ Health Equity Speaker Series, a series of conversations around health equity through the LGBTQ lens. We also joined with Beiersdorf, Google, DHL, and Otto to host a virtual Pride celebration—a two-day event with panel discussions, breakout sessions, and more. We hosted recruitment events with the Imperial College London (U.K.), the HEC (France), and the University of Amsterdam (Netherlands) to connect with LGBTIQ+ talent.
Our global commitment to equality is unwavering, and we work with our local teams to provide targeted support that considers cultural nuances, local dynamics and the varied needs of the LGBTIQ+ community.
Advancing LGBTIQ+ inclusion everywhere – including where there are legal and cultural obstacles
We have allies, champions, and trained I&D teams in every country where we operate and who provide support in locations where laws, pending legislation, and cultural context may be creating impediments to advancing LGBTIQ+ equality.
For example, in Hungary where the political, legal and societal environment is more challenging, we collaborate with our local Legal, HR, and Pride network teams to ensure our policies are LGBTIQ+ inclusive and provide equal benefits (as the law permits). Additionally, in response to recent anti-LGBTIQ+ legislation, we are leveraging social media to share our unwavering support of the LGBTIQ+ community. Although we have a smaller team in Hungary, their passion for advancing equality is immense, inspiring, and driving critical progress.
Compared to other regions globally, Latin America has made significant advancements in providing legal protections for LGBTIQ+ people. However, in several countries discrimination against the LGBTIQ+ community remains prevalent. Our teams in Latin America are tackling these challenges head-on and are setting a global example for how to advance LGBTIQ+ equality. They have worked to expand transgender health benefits to Mexico, Brazil, Chile and Argentina—countries with our largest presence in Latin America. In Brazil, we publicly spoke out against new anti-LGBTIQ+ legislation. We also offer a local Pride employee network in every Latin American country where we operate, actively engage with local external partners and non-profit organizations, and provide several internship programs designed for the LGBTIQ+ community.
At Accenture, we are moving I&D forward by setting bold goals, taking comprehensive action and holding ourselves accountable. These are just a few examples of the positive impact our people are making every day, and we’re proud of the great work all our teams are doing around the world to further LGBTIQ+ equality. The Global Benchmark plays a key role in our progress and our score serves as an important marker on our journey as well as a call to action to keep advocating, raising awareness, and making an impact that accelerates equality for all. To learn more about our work advancing LGBTIQ+ equality globally, visit accenture.com/Pride.
Please reach out to Javier Leonor, Global Inclusion and Diversity Senior Manager at Accenture, if you have any questions or would like to learn more.