As a leading professional services organisation, the work of Ernst & Young impacts the highest level of global business. The company advises many of the world’s most important companies on the issues that are shaping tomorrow – driving innovations that enable their clients to do better business, seize better opportunities and make better decisions.
Bright, curious, ambitious graduates will join E&Y to drive lasting change and create an impact on business and their own careers. In this article student recruitment advisor, Amy Moody talks about E&Y’s dedication as an equal opportunity employer and why it was proud to support the hugely successful Deaf and Disabilities Careers Fair 2016.
Embracing Individual Differences
“Here at EY, we understand that every individual has equally individual requirements — and that as an employer, we’ll only tap into our people’s very best performance if we embrace and enable these differences.
Our group of internal networks (Ability EY) are one of the key ways E&Y remain attuned to the needs of its people as they are set up with a focus on education and support — to help people be more aware of their colleagues and to know what support is available as well. Ability EY is an inclusive group, and includes the Deaf and Hard of Hearing Network. Ability EY is open to people with a disability, people who have family or friends with a disability or people who simply have an interest in the area. Our overall objective is to enable the firm to be more disability confident. We aim to do this by:
- Raising awareness of the diversity of our people and promoting a culture of inclusive leadership. Educating the business by raising awareness of the issues that face some of our underrepresented groups.
- Attracting diverse new talent by contributing to the firm’s position as an employer of choice.
- Providing members with personal development opportunities and creating a sense of affinity with the firm. Creating opportunities to connect with colleagues across all our service lines and in different geographical locations, providing wider personal networks.
- Connecting to the market by providing opportunities to engage with our clients and potential clients.
- Challenging the business to ensure that inclusive practices are ‘business as usual.’”
Breaking Down Communication Barriers
“With one in six people in the UK having some form of hearing loss we understand that people who are deaf or have hearing loss experience communication barriers both in the workplace and in their personal lives, which can lead to isolation and exclusion. These conditions can include moderate to profound hearing loss (e.g. from birth or following an illness), partial or progressive hearing loss over time, and tinnitus.
Isolation and exclusion needn’t be the case, this is why our EY Deaf and Hard of Hearing Network was created. The aim of the network is to raise awareness of various hearing conditions, and how the firm, colleagues and those with hearing conditions can manage situations effectively to enable those of us who are affected to work effectively at EY in an inclusive environment.
We also work with our accessibility team and others to ensure that good suppliers of appropriate technical solutions can be readily identified, approved and shared with the community. We offer our employees the opportunity to explore potential solutions that may help them via workplace adjustment assessments.
The EY Deaf and Hard of Hearing Network also hosts keynote events and internal workshops, and its members can offer one-to-one mentoring for new joiners and graduates.”
Would you like to work for a leading employer like Ernst & Young? Take a look at all the latest deaf job vacancies to see if your dream role is out there…
