Big Four named in top UK employers for women

Deloitte, PwC, EY and KPMG have all been included in the Times Top 50 Employers for Women 2019

This is the annual list, compiled by the Times and Business in the Community (BiTC), that recognises UK employers for their leadership in workplace gender equality, putting it at the heart of their business strategy. 

HMRC and the Financial Conduct Authority were also named in the top 50. 

The Big Four have long been at the forefront of the diversity and inclusion campaign and are regularly named in rankings of diversity friendly employers. Both KPMG and PwC have been included in the Times’ list since it was first set up in 2011, while EY joined it in 2012 and has stayed put ever since. Deloitte dropped out in 2014 and 2015 but has been on the list every other year.

This year Deloitte was also given the Gender Equality Game Changer Award for its “pioneering moves to promote an equal playing field for women in the workplace”. 

Emma Codd, managing partner for talent at Deloitte, said the award was a “great honour” to receive for the “focus that we have had on ensuring that we always provide an inclusive culture underpinned by respect”. 

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“This focus, which has been led from the top of our firm, has seen us – amongst other things - create the thought-provoking Ask Yourself film, put 6,000 of our most-senior leaders through extensive inclusive leadership sessions, create and roll out mandatory online inclusion development sessions to all our people, and ensure that all our people feel able to escalate any concerns they may have when it comes to respect and inclusion,” she added.

Laura Hinton, chief people officer at PwC, said, "It's great to be featured in the list again this year. People are at the centre of everything we do at PwC, so gender diversity - and the inclusion agenda more broadly - is a real priority for us. There's always more to do, and we have a clear action plan to ensure we're making progress in attracting and retaining people from all backgrounds." 

“I am proud EY has been listed as one of the UK’s top employers for women. Increasing the representation of women across our business, at every level, remains one of our top priorities. We continue to look for new ways to make our culture more diverse and inclusive,” Justine Campbell, managing partner for talent, EY UK&I.

All the Big Four were listed last year among the best employers for black, Asian and minority ethnic people in the UK, and three were named in the top 100 in lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender- support charity Stonewall’s 2018 most-inclusive employers ranking.