As part of its celebration of International Women’s Day, Accenture (No. 14 on the Fair360, formerly DiversityInc Top 50 Companies) has announced that women now account for 41 percent of its global workforce, up from just under 40 percent in June 2017, when the company first announced its goal of achieving a gender-balanced workforce by 2025.
“We believe that the future workforce is an equal one, and our ambition is to be the most inclusive and diverse company in the world,” said Pierre Nanterme, Accenture’s chairman & CEO. “Our diversity makes us stronger and we embrace it as a source of innovation, creativity and competitive differentiation.”
Accenture currently has more than 170,000 women in its global workforce. Over the past several years the company has set and achieved milestones on the path to having women account for 50 percent of its workforce by 2025. Accenture surpassed its goal of having women comprise 40 percent of new hires worldwide by 2017. The company reached this goal a year early, in 2016, and last year women comprised 45 percent of new hires.
“While we are pleased with our progress, attracting and advancing our women continues to be a key priority,” said Ellyn Shook, Accenture’s chief leadership & human resources officer. “Setting goals and making them public allows us to collaborate with our people, clients and communities to accelerate the pace of change. It takes bold leadership and comprehensive action to create a culture of equality where everyone can advance and thrive.”
Earlier this week, Accenture released new research, “Getting to Equal 2018,” which shows that creating a culture of equality unlocks women’s potential and uncovers the key drivers of a workplace culture in which everyone can advance and thrive. By identifying the factors that can foster a culture of equality, the report helps leaders of businesses and organizations define and implement strategies to close the gender gap in career advancement and pay. Additionally, Accenture is committed to the Paradigm for Parity 5-Point Action Plan to support its goal of achieving a gender-balanced workforce.
The company is celebrating International Women’s Day in nearly 50 countries. Its San Francisco event will be broadcast live on accenture.com/IWD.
To learn more about Inclusion & Diversity at Accenture, visit accenture.com/diversity.
