Purpose – one year on

Looking back on my first year as Deloitte’s deputy CEO and managing partner for People & Purpose, I’d like to take a moment to reflect on the role of purpose in our firm.

Specifically, how our purpose - of making an impact that matters – has informed the achievements we’ve made together in the last year, some of which we’ve shared in stories of our work in our annual report, and will keep guiding our work in the year to come.

Such reflection can only begin with a sincere thank you. To our clients and society partners for the trust they continue to place in our people when they ask us to work alongside them. And to our people, for their continued commitment to these challenges.

This trust - in our people, their skills, commitment and expertise – is especially important now. 

With businesses and our economy facing the most significant and unpredictable challenges in decades, the role of business in our society has never been more relevant. As part of the business community, we recognise we have work to do to keep building trust and meet growing expectations – in our firm and in communities - of business as a force for good. We know from our 2019 survey that Millennials want all of the talk from business about purpose to become meaningful action, and for business leaders to be agents for positive change.

We also have a role to play in supporting our clients and society partners as they adapt and strengthen their operations to meet the needs of a future that’s arrived sooner than expected.

With this in mind, I want to share some examples of how our purpose has guided our recent work - and will continue to be a North Star for the decisions we make in the coming year.

Supporting clients and communities to get through the pandemic

Work we’ve done throughout the pandemic, using our skills and experience to help people transform ways of working to tackle its unforeseen challenges, is something we’re incredibly proud of.

For example, our pro bono work  with Tax Aid and Tax Help for Older People to adapt their operations or supporting FutureDotNow’s campaign to help close the digital divide during lockdown has helped frontline services provide a lifeline for those in need.

On a larger scale, working alongside Government, we’ve made a valuable contribution to tackling the virus’ spread – creating a new UK manufacturing base for personal protective equipment and scaling up the UK’s testing capacity.

As we look forward, our purpose will continue to be heart of our work with clients. We’re continuing to ask important questions about how business can change for the better and helping our clients to respond. We are working with the oil & gas sector to reimagine the future of energy and support their transition to a low carbon economy.

Developing skills across the UK

A personal highlight of the year for me has been reaching our target of helping to one million people to overcome barriers to education and employment.

As a business that’s based on the skills of our people, we’ve worked hard to help develop the skills of others too. We have given financial support to UK charities, schools and social enterprises.

I’m looking forward to working together across our firm on a new pledge - through our Worldclass commitment, we’ll help another 5 million people across North and South Europe build skills, by 2030.

Going further to build an even more inclusive firm

At Deloitte, we pride ourselves on being a place in which everyone can be themselves and where our shared values, like taking care of each other, are evident in our day to day work.

When members of our team tell us we need to do more to create an equal playing field, it’s our job to listen and adapt to improve things. 

This year, the tragic killing of George Floyd was an important moment for reflection, in society and our firm – it led to the creation of our Black Action Plan, which includes important new commitments, like supporting organisations who create opportunities for Black people in society and creating fairer access to development and promotion across our firm.

As a leader, I want to be held accountable for making progress on its aims in the coming year. It is just one important part of our work on inclusion, which also includes supporting ethnic minorities more broadly, supporting women and the LGBTQ+ community, and increasing neurodiversity within our firm.

Working towards net zero emissions

One way we can demonstrate our commitment to business as a positive force in society is by playing an active role in tackling the climate emergency.

Over the last year, we’ve continued to make progress on reducing carbon emissions – all of our electricity is produced from renewable sources and our operational and business travel footprint is carbon neutral.

In the coming year, we’ll go further still with our WorldClimate global climate and sustainability strategy. This commits us to substantially reducing our emissions, with a target of reaching net zero by 2030 by setting targets and sustainability policies that encourage our people to take action.

We’ll report our progress every year so we know how well we are doing and to provides a strong foundation from which to support clients and suppliers in their own sustainability efforts – for example, securing sustainable finance and integrating climate-change related risks into our audit approach.

As this year has shown us, we never quite know what’s around the corner. But I’m confident that, with our purpose to guide us, we’ll be well equipped to make a greater positive impact than ever before for our clients, our people and society.