Diversity, equity and inclusion (DE&I) sits at the heart of the Grant Thornton network. Join us as we explore the journeys of some of our member firms and discover how they're inspiring positive change in their communities.
Focusing and developing a solid strategy around diversity, equity and inclusion isn’t always easy. It requires resources, extensive planning, and a true commitment across an entire organisation. However, despite all of this, there are so many reasons to invest in DE&I initiatives – chief amongst them being that it’s simply the right thing to do.
This is one of the underlying ideas that brought Grant Thornton Greece to reevaluate how they approached many of their practices. Now, six years down the line on a comprehensive journey towards improving DE&I, Grant Thornton Greece is pioneering a growing set of DE&I initiatives that centre around its three strategic pillars:
“The first pillar is about diversity at work, where we focus all our actions towards helping our people feel safer and enabling them to bring their true selves to work every day.
On this first pillar we have actions and initiatives like monthly webinars on various diversity issues/subjects, and also initiatives like the four day workweek in August. Our main goal through this pillar is to raise awareness.
The second pillar we have is partnerships with other organisations, which also helps further raise overall awareness on diversity matters here in Greece. And the last one concerns our reporting and how we set clear goals for ourselves, our people and also the community.”
Katerina Koulouri, Partner and Head of People Experience and Culture, Grant Thornton Greece
This focused, strategic approach to DE&I has allowed Grant Thornton Greece to create a truly welcoming and safe environment for its people where they can express themselves freely and know that they will be supported.
“The first pillar is about diversity at work, where we focus all our actions towards helping our people feel safer and enabling them to bring their true selves to work everyday." - Katerina Koulouri, Partner and Head of People Experience and Culture, Grant Thornton Greece
Six years ago, Grant Thornton Greece placed diversity, equity and inclusion as one of its strategic priorities. There was a clear desire throughout the firm to work on gender diversity in particular, with work commencing to deliver higher numbers of female Partners and managers and a more equitable gender balance across the firm. This required Grant Thornton Greece to critically analyse its entire set of systems and procedures to try and eliminate any biases.
To do this, the firm looked to external agencies in order to remove as much internal bias as possible. They conducted a Development Assessment Program as part of their Performance Management System for promotion to Partner level. The results were “mind-changing” according to Katerina Koulouri, with both first and second place in the external rankings going to female candidates.
“I believe this is the main starting point for us, where we got on the same page. Getting external, unbiased assessments showcased that female colleagues can do just as well for the Partner position, ranking higher on set common competencies. This very first step, along with the support from the management team, was the significant starting point for Grant Thornton Greece towards this diversity journey.” Katerina Koulouri, Partner and Head of People Experience and Culture, Grant Thornton Greece.
The support of the firm’s management can’t be understated. Having a commitment to developing DE&I throughout the firm was vital in creating the psychologically safe workspace that now exists. Vassilis Kazas, the Greek firm’s CEO, has been an ardent advocate of DE&I and has promoted these initiatives from the beginning. This has led to significant change internally, with active efforts in place to continue this journey. In his own words,
“When we started, we had only a few female Partners, but throughout the years we realised that we had to invest more to increase the number/percentage of female Partners in our firm and enjoy the benefits of that diverse partnership. Nowadays, 34% of our firm's Partner positions are held by women, but our main goal is to further increase this percentage to reach at least 50% of female Partners. We work very hard in this direction, and I believe that in the future we will achieve this goal.” Vassilis Kazas, CEO, Grant Thornton Greece.
The investment in DE&I has been felt across the entire firm, both at an individual and at a business level. The strongest impact of this focus has arguably been on the people at Grant Thornton Greece themselves. The firm feels truly connected, buoyed by a workforce that feels heard and appreciated.
“Firstly, in terms of how our people feel, it’s really impressive because of the work that we have done. It’s impacted their mindset, it’s impacted their beliefs around Grant Thornton, we’re definitely positioned as a firm that respects each other and respects women – that respects all the communities that feel they are sometimes left aside. So, this is something that basically portrays our values. It’s really important and crucial.” Alexandra Baltouka, Partner, Head of Marketing & Client Experience, Grant Thornton Greece.
This sense of belonging has a direct impact on the business relationships of the firm also. Clients can see and hear this message too.
Alexandra Baltouka explains that “they always say that what we do is really important, they haven’t seen it anywhere in the sector.” This likely comes from Grant Thornton Greece’s amazing work across the Greek entrepreneurial scene, where they engage heavily with female leaders to display their values of respect and inclusion.
Finally, the development of a strong female cohort within the firm’s senior leadership positions has brought with it new ideas and a different style of leadership. From a business standpoint, this can lead to new ideas and increased innovation throughout the firm, while also acting as an important insight into the career development opportunities that exist at Grant Thornton Greece.
“It was a very nice example for all our people, regardless of their level, to see that there is a career path leading to Partner level, no matter their gender or their pronoun. I would say this was really valuable from a cultural aspect and for how people see their career development inside the firm, thus leading to greater retention.” Katerina Koulouri, Partner and Head of People Experience and Culture, Grant Thornton Greece.
This positive career modelling also has knock-on effects for recruitment, with outside talent able to see the clear pathways that exist and the commitment to a bias-free method of internal promotion – something becoming increasingly more important to today’s modern workforce.
"Nowadays, 34% of our firm's Partner positions are held by women, but our main goal is to further increase this percentage to reach at least 50% of female Partners. We work very hard in this direction, and I believe that in the future we will achieve this goal.” - Vassilis Kazas, CEO, Grant Thornton Greece
Grant Thornton Greece’s long-term commitment to DE&I has yielded significant positives for the firm, and these haven’t gone unnoticed externally. The firm has been certified as a ‘Great Place to Work’ for a second consecutive year, with the certification survey showing scores of 95% and above, across all DE&I questions. The firm was also one of the first 18 businesses in Greece to receive the SHARE Equality Label, and has been named one of the ten Best Workplaces for Women in Greece. Finally, they were also awarded the Diversity award at Grant Thornton’s Go Beyond Awards 2022 for its commitment to improvement and the development of a host of powerful DE&I initiatives.
However, while awards such as these are tremendous achievements, the true reward for this investment in DE&I is the underlying change that is occurring at Grant Thornton Greece. At the time of the Go Beyond Awards 2022, the firm had:
Grant Thornton Greece now has a set of amazing workplace initiatives - such as its August Free Days and a series of monthly DE&I webinars – and it is already a Mexoxo ally, a devout supporter of Women on Top, and has signed the Greece Diversity Charter. However, despite all of this excellent work, Grant Thornton Greece is still committed to the continued development of its DE&I strategies.
“We want to make sure that for those people who don’t feel they have a strong voice, we want to make them feel like they are heard.
We started with women, but this issue expands to the communities of people that feel that they are boundless. We are there for them and we are there to set boundaries and make them feel included.” Alexandra Baltouka, Partner, Head of Marketing & Client Experience, Grant Thornton Greece.
Grant Thornton Greece has taken the time to build out a comprehensive strategy around DE&I that has already had a significant impact on the firm. Now, it’s looking to continue this progress and to expand its work – understanding that the work on DE&I is never truly finished.
“Our future plan is to continue on the same path. Our main objective is to increase the participation of females in senior management of our firm.” Vassilis Kazas, CEO, Grant Thornton Greece.
Challenges will always exist within DE&I, particularly as a firm grows. Trying to keep a strong balance is crucial, with Grant Thornton Greece aiming to “balance internal and external actions” as a core part of their DE&I strategy according to Alexandra Baltouka. Ultimately, Grant Thornton Greece is striving to improve on its already excellent work, and to create an environment that’s centered around its core values. As Katerina Koulouri puts it, “We want to set the tone to go further than gender diversity and to make clear that Grant Thornton Greece embraces all differences, and values all differences.
It requires a firm to confront its own biases head-on. Grant Thornton Greece made the decision to do this, and rebuilt many of its processes and practices from the ground up. This has led to the development of a truly inclusive organisation with the value of its people as its top priority. All of this centers around a belief that this commitment to DE&I is simply the right thing to do.
“Creating DE&I actions, encouraging people to do these kinds of actions is actually just doing the right thing. It is the responsibility of all of us to contribute to a meaningful tomorrow without stereotypes and exclusions, empowering an equal society, with love and solidarity at its core.” Alexandra Baltouka, Partner, Head of Marketing & Client Experience, Grant Thornton Greece.
While the journey hasn’t always been easy, it has yielded tremendous results, and has built a foundation that anyone can replicate if they’re willing to commit the resources and time to diversity, equity and inclusion. The results can be felt on both a human and a business level, with one feeding into the other:
“When people feel safe and trusted they perform better, they feel better, so performing better comes with better results in terms of clients. Clients see this culture and this different approach from the people, and they are also happy. Happy clients make happy employees, and happy employees make a happy society. I would say that is a full circle.” Katerina Koulouri, Partner and Head of People Experience and Culture, Grant Thornton Greece.
