EY warns of uncomfortable findings staff ahead of culture review report
The professional services giant has briefed senior staff ahead of releasing the findings of its culture review that contains some ‘uncomfortable matters’ after a death in the Sydney office.
Audit and consulting giant EY Oceania is preparing to release the review into the firm’s culture, set for release by the former sex discrimination commissioner Elizabeth Broderick.
EY has been calling in members of the firm’s management and partners, to flag the report’s release next week with warnings its findings may prove uncomfortable.
The firm commissioned the review to look at bullying, sexual harassment, racism, psychological safety, and the impact of work demands on staff last year after a death at EY’s Sydney office.
With the final findings still to be presented to EY management, the firm has still moved to flag its outcome may prove difficult for parts of the business.
An EY spokeswoman said the firm had commissioned the review “ to better understand the experiences of all our people so we can continue to improve,it will be released publicly in full after we have briefed our people”.
She said the firm was now reaching out to staff to ensure the findings were appropriately managed.
“This is an important report covering some sensitive issues. We have been communicating with our people and leaders over many months about the progress of the review and as we are getting towards the report being finalised and delivered by Elizabeth Broderick and Co at the end of July,” the EY spokeswoman said.
“It’s important our leaders are prepared and able to support their teams.”
EY staff have been called in for interviews with Ms Broderick’s firm Elizabeth Broderick & Co in recent months.
Ms Broderick’s firm also ran the review into the NSW Parliament, which found issues of bullying, harassment, and sexual misconduct.
Appearing before a parliamentary committee on Tuesday, EY chief executive David Larocca said the firm would hand over the full findings of the culture review to the Senate.
Mr Larocca said the report would reveal “some uncomfortable matters”.
“We invited this scrutiny because I know that we are not perfect,” he said.
“I also hold some hope that it stands to benefit the broader profession, as a review like this has never been done on our sector in Australia.”
Mr Larocca told the Senate inquiry it was important to remember the “tragic circumstances” around the death.
“We were also coming out of Covid, this was an intensely stressful period from a personal perspective for all our people as well as a professional perspective,” he said.
EY commissioned the review into its culture in September last year, as the firm faced down a potential probe by Safe Work NSW over the death of a member of the firm’s audit teams at its Sydney office.
The NSW Coroner’s court did not proceed with an investigation into the death.
EY is also running two other separate reviews into the firm, looking at what structures the firm has put in place to support staff’s mental health, as well as the wellbeing and safety of employees at the audit and consulting heavyweight.
Former chief executive of ReachOut Australia Jono Nicholas, EY’s mental health adviser, is leading those reviews.
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