An Inclusive, Diverse Environment
With our core values—including Best People, Integrity and Respect for the Individual—as a foundation, Accenture enjoys an authentically diverse culture: our workforce spans countries, cultures, languages, generations, perspectives, backgrounds and educational experiences. We have long been recognized as a great place to build a career in nearly every major country in which we operate, and we receive more than 2 million resumes annually.
We take the widest possible view of diversity and are committed to creating and providing an inclusive, open and equitable environment for individuals with different backgrounds, lifestyles, needs and expectations. This allows us to give our clients access to a rich range of talent, and responsibility for fostering our culture begins with our most-senior leaders. Our global diversity efforts include two governing bodies: the Accenture Diversity Council, which makes decisions regarding inclusion and diversity globally; and the Diversity Advisory Forum, which recommends innovative approaches to our initiatives.
Additionally, our wide variety of employee resource groups connects individuals who wish to strengthen their support networks. These interest groups include those focused on women, sexual orientation and persons with disabilities.
Women at Accenture
One global constant is outreach to women, and our support for our more than 80,000 women takes many forms. For example, the "Developing High-Performing Women" course helps female managers develop their skills, and in 2011 we launched two additional training programs, "Maximizing Performance: Women and Client Centricity" and "Maximizing My Senior Executive Career."
Today, women account for three of the 10 non-management directors on our board, 17 percent of our senior executives and 25 percent of our Global Management Committee, our primary governance group.
Our annual celebration of International Women's Day—a day designated by the United Nations to recognize women's contributions to the world's economy—reaffirms our leadership's commitment to women in our workforce. In 2010, our most-senior women participated in events in 134 locations across 35 countries, and in 2011 we expanded events to 162 locations across 40 countries.
At the same time, the Accenture Women's Network provides a global online resource with local impact for women around the globe. It offers a forum to highlight achievements, share experiences, network and discuss topics ranging from work/life integration to stretch roles.
Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender
In recent years, we have expanded support for our LGBT employees. As local regulations permit, we have introduced policies to ensure the equal treatment of employees regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity. In 2010 we created an LGBT-focused section of the Accenture Portal and in 2011, we introduced a new training course, "LGBT Equality in the Workplace." In fact, Accenture has received a perfect score for five consecutive years on the Human Rights Campaign's Corporate Equality Index, and Out & Equal in the United States honored Richard Clark, Accenture's corporate controller, with its Trailblazer award.
Persons with Disabilities
We also seek to provide assistive technologies and workplace accommodation for our persons with disabilities (PwD). We have augmented our support for PwD, in part through a new training course, "Inclusion & Diversity in Motion: Valuing Persons with Disabilities," and in the United States, United Kingdom and Canada, our PwD employee resource groups meet regularly. Accenture locations develop their PwD efforts based on local interests and needs. For example, in France Accenture works with Association Nationale de Gestion du Fonds pour l'Insertion Professionnelle des Personnes Handicapées on an awareness campaign and sensitivity training for human resources, recruiting and procurement professionals.