Grant Thornton has announced an expansion of the firm's diversity and inclusion efforts with the implementation of new training programs and monetary donations to social-justice organizations.
Grant Thornton developed its efforts with members of its African Americans and Allies Business Resource Group — an internal group that promotes the recruitment, development and retention of Black professionals.
“Knowing that words would not be enough and that we needed to take action, we created a set of strategic commitments and policy changes,” said Brad Preber, CEO of Grant Thornton, in a statement. “Our efforts represent the direct recommendations from our leaders and members of our African Americans and Allies business resource group. We developed them with a high level of transparency and accountability to ensure lasting, meaningful change in our firm, our communities and beyond.”
“This year has proven to be a galvanizing time for the nation — and for Grant Thornton,” said Rashada Whitehead, Grant Thornton’s head of culture, diversity, equity and inclusion, in a statement. “With the guidance of our Black colleagues, we were able to turn tragedy into positive momentum by jump-starting a number of meaningful commitments, including our recent monetary donations. But our work is not done; we look forward to continually advancing diversity, equity and inclusion at Grant Thornton and in the communities we serve.”
The firm's new measures include:
- $300,000 donations each (over three-year commitments) to the Southern Poverty Law Center and the Thurgood Marshall College Fund.
- Allowing staff members 40 hours of annual chargeable time to support participate in external community activities.
- The firm's “unconscious bias training” will now be mandatory, in addition to adding diversity and inclusion sessions into firm-wide conferences and onboarding for new hires.
- The firm's political action committee will contribute to anti-discrimination and racial-justice legislation.
- The firm's public policy group will support legislation addressing discrimination and racial injustice.
- Grant Thornton has named Weird Enough Productions as the most recent recipient
of the firm's Purple Paladin initiative — a program designed to help emerging nonprofit organizations move from startups to more sustainable organizations via funding, business advice and volunteer support.
- The firm will expand the range of schools where it recruits students and update its experienced-hire recruiting process to hire from more diverse backgrounds.
- Martin Luther King Jr. Day bas been added as an annual paid holiday each year.
More information on the firm's diversity efforts can be found on their
