Deloitte supplies 3,000 hours of pro bono work in CSR drive

A month-long Deloitte initiative saw the firm’s staff rack up the equivalent of 19 months of pro bono work on behalf of a host of good causes across the UK. As the firm was unable to offer face-to-face services amid the coronavirus outbreak, it partnered with a number of technological solutions to provide work remotely.

Volunteers’ Week is supported and celebrated by small grassroots organisations as well as larger, household-name charities, who together run hundreds of activities across the UK. In the first week of June every year, the week showcases and celebrates volunteers and the contribution volunteering makes across Britain’s communities.

This year, Big Four firm Deloitte has marked the occasion by inviting its staff to volunteer for different activities throughout May. These included helping students develop their critical thinking and communication skills; providing advice and support to an individual who is currently out of work, or at risk of redundancy due to Covid-19; and coaching small businesses and charities affected by the pandemic; among other drives to promote social responsibility and inclusion.

Across the firm, the push saw Deloitte’s volunteers accrue more than 3,000 hours of pro bono work as the firm continues to work toward its ‘5 Million Futures’ social impact goals. Deloitte is currently working with over 70 partner organisations across the UK, helping the communities they serve to access education and employment as part of the 5 Million Futures goal. Since 2016, the firm asserts that this has made an impact on over one million futures – giving over 120,000 hours in volunteering, and 36,700 hours of work pro bono.

Over 1,300 Deloitte people signed up to take part on this occasion, including Deloitte UK CEO Richard Houston. Houston joined other members of the Deloitte UK Executive for a session with Sacred Heart Secondary School Camberwell, hosted by Debate Mate.

Houston said, “We volunteered to help students with their debating and pitching skills. Their enthusiasm and ideas were simply brilliant, and the session was definitely the highlight of my week! Volunteering gives our people an opportunity to develop their skills, give back to society, and make a difference for those who need it most.”

Face-to-face volunteering was not possible, due to the ongoing pandemic, so Deloitte had to re-think how its staff could make a positive impact in society. A number of new partnerships enabled the firm to supply support digitally in this case. 

Claire Burton, Director for Responsible Business at Deloitte, commented, “We’re proud to encourage our people to volunteer their time and skills to benefit others. As well as continuing to support our existing school, charity and social enterprise partnerships, we are now also working with Governors For Schools, Action Tutoring, Tutor Mate and Business in the Community – all of which enable Deloitte people to volunteer their time and knowledge to help others remotely.”

Over 650 people at Deloitte also signed up to support similar Debate Mate sessions to the one Houston attended. During these sessions, students pitched ideas relating to technology, climate change or their local community and the best pitches went head-to-head in a finale with the winning team receiving seed funding of £1,000 from Deloitte as well as a session with the firm’s in-house creative design team to develop their idea further.