An interview with Vice Chairman & Regional Managing Partner, Deborah DeHaas, about the programs that Deloitte has put in place to enhance career opportunities for women.

In 1992, Deloitte's then-CEO Mike Cook wanted to know why women were leaving his firm at a significantly higher rate than men. He formed a task force to develop a plan to reverse the startling turnover gap. Realizing that the growth of Deloitte depended on the success of its women professionals, they created The Initiative for the Retention and Advancement of Women (WIN), which laid out a set of measures and goals to determine progress in remaking the system: reducing the turnover gap, filling the pipeline-to-partner track with more women and increasing the number of women in the partnership and in positions of senior leadership.

With a solid business case and clear goals, the team constructed a framework for best practices, setting to-dos: create leadership programs, enhance career opportunities for women, set up a mandatory training program and establish an External Advisory Council to which Deloitte would be accountable. The Council includes leaders from business, government and academia, who work with the firm to ensure it stays on track toward its goals.

After 15 years, Deloitte can point to impressive numbers. By 2006, the percentage of women who were partners, principals and directors ("PPDs") had tripled from the first number recorded in 1993. Last year, 32% of those admitted to partnership were women. Perhaps, most significant was that the gender gap in turnover has been eliminated. "Deloitte's workplace initiatives are driven straight from the top," says Deborah L. DeHaas, Deloitte Vice Chairman and Regional Managing Partner. "When we implemented the Women's Initiative, it was critical that we make a change to our culture. Since then, our success has not only impacted our people, but also impacted our clients, as diversity is a high priority for them in the firms that they work with."

Thanks to WIN, Deloitte has the largest representation of women PPDs of the Big Four accounting firms, according to Public Accounting Report. In 2006, WIN programs delivered more than 400 professional development, networking and mentoring activities, reaching more than 12,000 women and men. It is an engine for innovation where ideas on talent management and work/life effectiveness are developed, tested, improved on and implemented. Its most recent innovation, Mass Career Customization (MCC), is a new model for how careers are built. MCC is designed to help employees build career paths that fit various stages of their personal lives and also meet the needs of the business.