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Diversity has become one of the corporate world’s most enduring buzzwords of the last decade. At its core, the concept of diversity in the workplace means having a balanced representation of employees across the various social groups. The groups generally include men and women, as well as racial, ethnic and religious minorities, without regard to sexual preference. Try to guarantee that each group has equal opportunities to enter and advance in a given organisation, the theory says, and diversity can be achieved.
Then there’s the PwC world in which more than 146,000 individuals operate in 150 countries. It’s an enormous playing field, and the attempts to make it level for everyone is an effort that is generating creative ideas, action, and solutions from across the network. No one is close to declaring victory in this marathon, yet there are many positive steps being taken in the right direction.
The real driver behind diversity is a recognition that we’re far stronger when we are diverse and integrated, building on and learning from our differences in ways that make us competitively superior. That’s why we’ve made diversity a top priority for our organisation.
Women at PwC: A global priority
There are complexities surrounding diversity on the local level. Globally we’re responsible for working with the network on best practices and collective engagement but typically we don’t invent things at the global level. It’s based on the innovation and demand that comes from the territories. So, whilst basic attitudes towards inclusion, equal opportunity, tolerance, and discrimination know no boundaries within the network, each firm must assume responsibility for dealing with its particular diversity issues.
Gender diversity is the one area that is being dealt with on a global level. Although each firm's cultural, social, and economic differences are taken into account, creating opportunities for women is seen as a network-wide objective.
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