Inclusion, diversity and wellbeing

This programme aims to provide insights into the lived experiences of our minority groups at Forvis Mazars to encourage a learning culture and to build an inclusive environment.

Empower - speed mentoring is a series of focused group sessions giving mentees access to our senior leaders. The sessions are designed to inspire mentees to think about their own career journey as they listen to our leaders share their career stories.

Nargis, Partner - “A mentoring relationship can always give an added dimension to what’s already available through the traditional line manager or appraising manager. It can help broaden people’s horizons as to what their career might represent. What I found from my own journey and from nurturing individuals from disadvantaged backgrounds towards leadership, is that at a point in their career the power of social confidence, networking with different types of individuals and soft communication skills becomes a real differentiator on whether a candidate for promotion is able to progress or not.”

Our parental coaching programmes support those taking family leave to successfully manage their journey to parenthood in the context of their professional lives. We also offer coaching for the line manager of the individuals taking leave to support the transition.

Jenn, Partner - “Parental leave had a huge impact on both my personal and professional life, however having time set aside to talk about both the rewards and challenges this can have put my mind at ease. The coaching played a huge part in rebuilding my confidence and also provided me with reassurance that everything I was feeling on my return to work was completely normal. I would strongly recommend transition coaching to anyone about to embark on their exciting parenthood journey”

To support our inclusion and diversity agenda, we run an inclusive leadership programme at Forvis Mazars which aims to support individuals in developing the qualities needed to be an inclusive leader.

Fred, Director - "I recently took part in an externally run course discussing inclusive leadership, which covered a range of topics including (but not limited to) how to better understand yourself (which in turn will help you understand others), how to be resilient and open to change, and what kind of sponsorship you can lean on to support this. As a recently promoted Director this has been invaluable for me in demonstrating the importance of leaders within in any organisation and how best to approach this as an individual. There were a number of key takeaways from this, but for me a real standout was that to be a great and inclusive leader you need to find how to be the best version of yourself."

This initiative offers supported return to the workplace after a career break of more than 12 months, including one-to-one coaching support.

Arlene, Manager -“The Forvis Mazars Returners Programme is a fantastic way to transition back into work after a long career break. Don’t be scared to ask for help and make mistakes. Before you know it, you will be back to taking charge of your career.”

We are committed to a variety of Charters in order to drive inclusion and diversity in the workplace including; Stonewall, Women in Finance, Social mobility pledge, Social mobility foundation, Access Accountancy, 10,000 Black interns, 10,000 Able Interns and The Valuable 500. 

Valuable 500 commitment - “We will actively engage with our Speakeasy network (disability network) through our Inclusion Alliance ensuring it plays a key role in the development of the firm’s policies and practices in relation to inclusion and visible and hidden disabilities. We will provide a platform for the network to share more lived experiences to help educate and raise awareness of disability across the firm”.

Women in Finance targets - As part of our commitment to ensuring gender balance across Forvis Mazars, we have been a signatory to the HM Treasury’s Women in Finance Charter since 2018. The Charter is a commitment by HM Treasury and signatory firms work together to build a more balanced financial services industry. Our targets by 2027 are 32% female Partners, 46% female Directors and 50% female Senior Managers. As of 2023 our latest reporting we have 28% female Partners, 35% female Directors and 47% female Senior Managers.

Ethnicity targets – As part of our commitment of increasing ethnic diversity across our firm we have set a partner ethnicity target of 13% by 2027. This includes a target of 2% Black partner representation.

10,000 Black interns programme – we support the 10,000 Black Interns Programme, in summer  2022 we offered paid internships to 13 interns who joined us for a 6 week placements, following the programme we made 5 offers. Offering internships such as this allows us to build a diverse, representative and inclusive firm which nurtures and develops our Black talent for the future. We are pleased to be supporting this programme in 2023

10,000 Able Interns – We took part in the pilot programme during the summer of 2022 and we are pleased to be participating in this newly launched programme for the summer of 2023 offering disabled talent with paid internships.

Neurodiversity in Business (NiB): recently we have signed up to NiB, a forum which brings experts and employers together to create more inclusive experiences for neurodiverse individuals. By partnering with NiB our aim is to  build a better workplace for Neurodiverse employees, whilst supporting those with neurodiverse loved ones and families, through raising awareness, breaking down stigmas and improving our internal support and resources.

Business Disability Forum (BDF): We are proud members of Business Disability Forum, working with them to create an inclusive workplace by removing barriers to improve the experience of team members, and create a disability-smart firm ,through reviewing and updating our policies and process from a disability inclusion lens, and ensuring our application and recruitment process more accessible.  

Menopause Workplace Pledge We are very pleased to have signed the Menopause Workplace Pledge; in signing the pledge we have committed to making our organisation a supportive and understanding place for team members going through the menopause. By continuing the conversation and highlighting the importance of this topic, we hope to break down stigma and create a culture of inclusion, where everyone feels able to talk openly about the menopause and have the support they need.

Find out more on our commitments here.