EY: Can you apply a globally consistent policy across an inconsistent world?

New research in collaboration with the New York University School of Law’s Center for Diversity, Inclusion, and Belonging explores three models for multinational companies striving to advance LGBT+ inclusion in their workplaces.

Currently, at the time of publishing, homosexuality is criminalized in 73 countries. Multinational corporations with inclusive values can’t ignore this as they work to advance inclusion for the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community across the globe. Organizations are grappling with questions, such as how can we make progress when we could be in direct conflict of local laws? And how can we lobby for equality without placing any of our LGBT+ employees or local business at risk of prosecution or abuse?

These are questions that EY has grappled with on our own diversity and inclusiveness journey.
Our journey

At EY, we’ve been on a diversity and inclusiveness (D&I) journey for many years. Diversity paired with inclusion drives business success and better outcomes. LGBT+ inclusion in particular allows companies to attract and retain the best talent, and drive high performance teaming through diversity of thought. It’s the right thing to do and it’s good for business.

When we really started to dig into LGBT+ inclusion, it didn’t take long to expose the layers of complexity to move the needle towards full inclusion of our vibrant LGBT+ community.

We know that as a multinational organization, we need to be cognizant of the local legislation and social environments in which we operate, we can’t simply set a global policy and walk away. We need to be consistently evaluating and tailoring our LGBT+ inclusion efforts and activating them based on the realities on the ground.

The convergence of social, legal and company environments layered on top of personal beliefs, opinions and fears can create the perfect formula for a deadlock for progress. Momentum and visibility of the LGBT+ community continues to grow, and we can now leverage progress to consistently and collectively push for inclusion around the globe. “At EY, we believe it is our responsibility to create an environment where each professional can feel like they belong and can bring their true, unique selves to work, making us a stronger organization and better able to service clients. We have member firms in countries in which homosexuality is illegal, and we have a responsibility to provide our employees with a safe workplace where they can thrive,” said Karyn Twaronite, Global Diversity & Inclusiveness Officer.