Equity, Diversity, Inclusion & Belonging

At Doane Grant Thornton LLP, we are proud of our unique, award-winning culture, a place where each person is encouraged to grow and to make a difference. We’re like those big cities that feel like small towns, where people take time to connect and feel they belong. In everything we do, we Lead Inclusively.

What does Leading Inclusively mean?

It means we strive to create an environment where diverse voices are not only at the table, but also heard and valued. Where people have equitable access to opportunities for growth and advancement, regardless of age, race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, gender identity and other diverse personal attributes. Where everyone feels safe to bring their whole selves to work. Where they feel they belong, are inspired to be their best and are empowered to succeed.

Leading Inclusively is not a “check the box” activity. It’s central to our Purpose, our culture and our impact.

Equity, diversity, inclusion and belonging are part of our fabric

Leading Inclusively is woven throughout everything we do, a common value that connects our colleagues and strengthens our teams. To keep our commitment to Leading Inclusively at the forefront, our CEO and Senior Leadership Team have direct responsibility for creating an inclusive, welcoming and equitable workplace.

At the business level, our 16 Inclusiveness Champions help us embed inclusive practices every day—from meetings and events with our colleagues, to delivering an exceptional experience for our clients, to making a difference in our communities.

From your first interactions with us, you’ll notice a difference.

How we Lead Inclusively

Here are some of the ways in which you can see, hear and feel our culture of inclusion:

• We bring together diverse teams of colleagues to provide diversity of thought and experience so we can provide our clients with the best solutions. For our colleagues this means equitable access to exciting work and stretch assignments.
• We engage our People Managers in unconscious bias training so they can make annual contribution assessment and promotion decisions through an inclusive lens.
• Our leaders ask the hard questions to ensure that we continually review our policies and programs (such as recruitment practices) to identify and eliminate systemic bias.
• Through our Learning to Thrive platform, all colleagues have access to resources and e-learning content, which helps us each take responsibility for creating awareness of important issues and provides a basis for informed, open dialogue.
• We regularly survey our people to understand the diversity within our colleague and Partner populations and to inform the development of inclusive and equitable programs and initiatives.
• For our colleagues to thrive and be able to bring their whole selves to work, we understand the importance of flexibility. Our Flex-Ability framework enables everyday flexibility.
• We also offer formalized alternative work arrangements and access to external resources such as childcare and eldercare programs.
• Our Leading Inclusively Advisory Committee is comprised of colleagues from every level and many diverse groups to share perspectives, ideas and feedback with our Board, CEO and Senior Leadership Team.

And we know there is still more to do…

Equity, diversity, inclusion and belonging are not checkbox statements or initiative-based activities for us. They are a commitment that is complex and evolving. That’s why it’s important to us to build our culture through a lens of Leading Inclusively. You’ll see, hear and feel it in our colleagues’ experiences every day.

We’ve been making progress on gender representation

We are excited about the rate of increase of women advancing to partnership and senior leadership roles over the past few years and we expect this to continue. Currently, 34% of Partners and Principals and 43% of our Senior Leadership Team are women.

Canadian Best Workplace awards

We’re proud to be recognized by Great Place to Work as one of Canada’s Best Workplaces for 17 consecutive years, as well as a Best Workplace for Inclusion (2018, 2020, 2021, 2024), Women (2017, 2020, 2021, 2023, 2024), and Today's Youth (2020, 2021, 2022, 2024) among others. 

Recruiting inclusively

We work as a team to make sure our talent attraction process is welcoming, fair and inclusive. Our colleagues often tell us they felt welcome and respected from their very first encounter with Grant Thornton. And, once new colleagues join our team, we’re committed to providing them with access to varied engagement and project opportunities that enable them to grow both personally and professionally. Visit our careers site to learn more.