Pride as EY named Stonewall Star Performer on workplace equality

EY has been praised as one of Stonewall’s Star Performers for consistently being ranked as ‘a leading gay-friendly workplace’ in the annual Workplace Equality Index of top 100 public and private sector companies.

The firm is one of eight organisations and the only one of the Big Four to receive the recognition. The other star performers are Accenture, Barclays, Gentoo, Goldman Sachs, the Home Office, IBM and Simmons & Simmons.

Earlier this year EY was named as one of UK’s leading gay friendly employers, coming fifth in Stonewall’s 2014 Workplace Equality Index and achieving third place in Stonewall’s listing of global employers, scooping a Star Performer Network Group award for its lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and allies network, Unity.

Liz Bingham, EY’s managing partner for talent in the UK & Ireland said: “We’re extremely proud to be named one of Stonewall’s Star Performers and recognised for revolutionising our approach to workplace equality. EY’s Unity network for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people and their allies has had a big part to play in this success and in our ongoing leadership in the field of workplace equality.

“At EY, we believe diversity and inclusiveness is something all businesses should value and strive for. Diverse teams make better business decisions, which is why we’re investing in our employee networks and talent programmes to create an environment where everyone can succeed regardless of race, gender or sexual orientation.”

Steve Varley, EY’s chairman and managing partner for UK & Ireland, said: “Being named as a Star Performer is a huge achievement that we’re very proud of as a firm. We invest a lot of time and energy into trying to create an environment where all our people, regardless of sexuality, gender, or ethnicity, are able to be themselves and succeed in the workplace.

Stonewall chief executive Ruth Hunt said: “Congratulations to EY for being recognised as a Stonewall Star Performer. All eight of our Star Performers have consistently proved that they can make the world a better place for lesbian, gay, bisexual and trans people. It is therefore only right that we harness their best practice and commitment to changing workplaces across the country and around the world. Each of our Star Performers has committed to an ambitious programme of work to improve the lives of LGBT people which will have real, tangible results. This takes workplace equality to the next level.”