With Our Colleagues

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We celebrate our colleagues’ entrepreneurial spirit and their unique skills, experiences, and perspectives. Embracing and valuing the diverse views of our colleagues strengthens our culture, enables people to be their best selves, and delivers exceptional service to clients.

Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DE&I)

We are committed to creating an inclusive environment in which all our colleagues can be their authentic selves. Our culture is strengthened by our efforts to diversify our workforce and to promote from within. Our plans to create a diverse, inclusive, and equitable workplace combine firm-wide DE&I initiatives with office-specific efforts that address local contexts and opportunities. This year, each of our 47 offices will establish time-bound goals aligned with local DE&I program aspirations.

 

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RRA Diversity At-a-Glance

We continue to make a concerted effort to attract and retain a diverse workforce. Over the past two years, we have also expanded internal data collection to establish a baseline upon which we can measure progress. While important, we know that numbers are only a part of the picture. We are continuing to establish a baseline with which to measure our impact over time, to better understand and address gaps in our talent pipeline, and to develop better support structures for colleagues from historically underrepresented groups.

 

 

60%

of RRA offices met or exceeded their DE&I goals in 2022.

 

35%

of our global Managing Directors are women.

 

RRA Global Gender by Role as of December 2022
Firmwide, we’ve maintained an overall gender diversity of almost 70% women for three years.

 

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RRA’s Global Workforce Race/Ethnicity* by Role as of December 2022
Colleagues from historically underrepresented groups (HUGs) comprise nearly 30% of our workforce.

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RRA’s LGBTQIA+ Community* as of December 2022
We are proud to have taken steps to begin to measure LGBTQIA+ status and Gender Identity. Of colleagues who chose to self-identify, 10% identified as members of the LGBTQIA+ community. In addition, <1% of colleagues who chose to disclose information identified as non-binary.

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Read more details about our diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts.

Our 2023 DE&I report

At RRA, we work to build a more diverse, equitable, and inclusive place of work from three angles: Hiring, Development and Promotion, and Strengthening Our Culture.

Attracting and Hiring Talent

We believe that effective DE&I efforts apply DE&I principles through a local lens to deliver the most meaningful impact for the communities where we do business. We implement office-specific DE&I programs to ensure that we are best representing the needs for improved diversity and inclusion in each of our local locations. In 2022, we also launched a global benefits review to identify where we can better align our benefits offerings to our DE&I values.

In 2022, we continued to hire at unprecedented levels, with more than 520 new colleagues joining the firm, representing more gender and racial/ethnic diversity than ever before. We are committed to strengthening and diversifying our talent pipeline—to be successful, we must continue to cultivate local talent pipelines across each of our offices. We will continue to develop our diversity recruitment strategy and hiring practices that help us to create a workplace that best reflects the communities in which we do business.

 

 

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Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion are core to living our purpose: to improve the way the world is led. By embracing our colleagues’ unique perspectives and lived experiences, we’re creating a culture where everyone feels included, respected, and positioned to succeed. That’s how DE&I supports our firm’s continued success—by attracting and retaining top talent to our firm and to delivering exceptional value to our clients.

Irma Alvarez

 

 

Irma Alvarez
Global Head of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion | New York

 

Diversifying Our Hiring Pipeline

Jopwell is a US-based company that represents and advances careers for Black, Latino, and Native American students and professionals. In 2019, we formed a partnership with Jopwell to diversify our hiring pipeline for early career roles and build more meaningful recruiting relationships with a more diverse group of campus partners. Since then, we’ve participated in three Jopwell community events to share guidance on resume building and interviewing skills. Our participation in these events has expanded and deepened our campus recruiting efforts to more than 20 colleges and universities. As a result, we hired 10 Jopwell community members in the last two years.

 

Ethnic and Gender Diversity in Firmwide Promotion in 2022

 

72%

of promotions were women.

 

37%

of promotions were from HUGs.

 

Developing and Retaining Talent

We continually invest in training and development that’s aligned with our DE&I priorities. This strategy includes implementation of firmwide unconscious bias training, sessions on mitigating bias embedded in leadership and manager development efforts, and locally led discussions on topics ranging from cultural intelligence to allyship. All of these offerings strengthen and diversify our leadership bench and foster a culture of greater inclusion across the firm.

In 2022, RRA saw its most diverse promotion class to date: 72% women and 37% from HUGs. We also saw a 12% increase in positive sentiment around Diversity & Inclusion in 2022 against a 2020 baseline in our People Survey. While many factors influence this metric, elevating diverse voices within RRA is a key component. Our work here is not done, and we seek to further apply a DE&I lens to our development programs each year. Our LEADR program, which aims to accelerate development and increase the number of “ready now” leaders across the firm, is a great example of this effort. In 2022, the LEADR cohort was comprised of 60% women and 30% from HUGs. Going forward, we plan to launch additional development programs specifically for women and colleagues from Historically Underrepresented Groups.

 

Creating an Equitable and Inclusive Employee Experience Through Global Benefits

We believe that a comprehensive and inclusive global benefits program is one of the critical elements of an inclusive work environment. In 2022, we invested in a DE&I review of our global benefits offerings to identify opportunities to enhance equity and inclusiveness across our offerings to support our goals to attract and retain diverse employees. The results of our Global Benefits Review confirmed the equitable and inclusive nature of many of our benefits, while identifying opportunities for us to further strengthen equity and inclusion in targeted benefit areas.

 

 

600+

colleagues are members of RRA’s Inclusion Networks.

Strengthening Our Culture

Embracing and valuing the diverse views of our colleagues strengthens our culture, enables people to be their best selves, and delivers exceptional service to clients. Through continued support of our firmwide Inclusion Networks (INs) we continue to foster a sense of belonging at RRA.

READ MORE ABOUT DE&I AT RRA

 

Inclusion Networks
There are six firmwide Inclusion Networks at RRA: Asian Inclusion Network, Black Inclusion Network, Vamos! Inclusion Network (Hispanic/Latino), pRide Inclusion Network (LGBTQIA+), Parents and Carers Inclusion Network, and Women’s Inclusion Network. Each network creates a unique opportunity for dialogue through discussions with internal and external leaders, and professional development through skill-building workshops. In 2023, we will continue to invest in the growth and success of our INs by appointing senior-level Executive Sponsors for each network. We will also establish two new firmwide Inclusion Networks: The Veterans Inclusion Network and Disability/Neurodiversity Inclusion Network.

 

Inclusion Networks

 

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To take sustainability from motion to action, RRA supports a wide variety of internal Inclusion Networks for our diverse communities around the world. As a global firm, we firmly believe in building a collaborative and safe culture where each of us can truly belong—and we practice it ourselves before we advise our clients to do the same!

Anupama Puranik

 

 

Anupama Puranik
Managing Director | Singapore

 

Growing and Developing Our Teams

 

113

people attended the New Consultants Program in 2022.

 

 

Our colleagues propel our firm’s everyday success. We endeavor to be their employer of choice. Attracting, retaining, and developing the best talent starts with our commitment to prepare our colleagues for success. RRA is known for its entrepreneurial culture, where every colleague is encouraged to step up to challenges and share solutions for improving our colleague and client experience.

Colleague Attraction

We hired our first Global Head of Talent Acquisition in 2022 to advance our recruitment and hiring processes, with specific attention on building diverse pipelines of candidates. (See pages 21–22 for more information on our DE&I-focused hiring efforts.)

 

Welcoming New Hires

The reception a new hire receives sets the tone for their experience with us. Do they feel welcome? Prepared? Supported? In 2022, we launched a new onboarding initiative to improve the new colleague experience. Our programs include live, in-per son programs tailored for new researchers as well as a program for training new consultants on our go-to-market strategies, quality expectations, and internal networks.

 

Development

 

 

563

participants took part in the 2022 RRA Quarterly Learning Series.

We are committed to empowering our people to grow their skills and their careers. Our approach is based on the belief that the majority of learning and development happens on the job and through exposure. To better support this mode of learning, we are refreshing and relaunching our “sponsorship model” to pair people and provide them with best resources for accelerating their career through apprenticeship.

We offer a variety of learning programs so colleagues can design a development path that fits their personal needs. Our Quarterly Learning Series is one of our most popular ways for colleagues to plug into learning for soft skill development such as communication skills, active listening, navigating change, motivating your team, and coaching. Additionally, we support the sponsorship of courses through local offices to address local needs and context. We also offer education assistance for full-time colleagues working toward undergraduate or advanced degrees.

In 2022, we designed and planned two new learning and development programs that will launch in 2023. The CAPstone program will enable experienced consultants to further their client impact by advancing their advisory skills to meet the needs of today’s increasingly complex business environments. We also engaged Blue Ocean Brain, an e-learning site, to address colleagues’ interest in on-demand learning in popular topics such as DE&I, wellbeing, collaboration, and personal and team effectiveness. This new learning program launches in 2023.

 

Developing Leaders

Career development pathways at our firm are tailored to our colleagues’ roles and experience levels. In 2022, we hosted the second year of our LEADR program for a cohort of high-performing and high-potential senior colleagues across the firm. We also offer a special curriculum for Managing Directors. In 2022, 35 people attended the new Managing Director Program.

 

Colleague Engagement & Feedback

We launched our latest annual culture survey in September 2022. The survey measures our colleagues’ perspectives across 11 dimensions of the firm. The results showed that people view our leadership positively and that our DE&I efforts to dat e have been well received. We also uncovered opportunities to continue refining how we use technology across the company to better serve our colleagues and clients.
In addition to this big-picture culture survey, we solicit feedback in a variety of more specific ways. For example, we request feedback on every new learning program we conduct and proactively seek input on new learning needs.

 

Sustainability at the Center

We’re putting sustainability at the center of our colleague experience. In 2022, we demonstrated how sustainability principles fit into our culture by adding “Sustainable” to our list of core values, along with “Client Focused, Forward-Thinking, Inclusive, and Passionate.” Creating ways for colleagues to share ideas and take on leadership roles in our sustainability and DE&I efforts helps us live out our shared values and fulfill our company’s purpose.

 

Safety & Wellbeing

We care deeply about the wellbeing and safety of our people. We are committed to providing a safe workplace wherever our colleagues are working. To ensure we maintain an understanding of the safety and wellbeing priorities of our colleagues, we plan to launch a pulse survey to supplement the annual colleague engagement/culture survey, including the opportunity for each office to include its own questions. We are also in the process of developing a wellbeing subcommittee to develop strategy and tactics to support enhanced work-life balance. We will pilot a wellbeing learning initiative in support of work-life balance in 2023.

 

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Taking part in the LEADR program was a unique opportunity to step away and connect with colleagues for mutual development, as well as to work on strategy and transformation projects that will define the future of the firm.

Fawad Bajwa

 

 

Fawad Bajwa
Managing Director | Toronto

 

 

 

 

 

 

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