NEW YORK, Dec. 2 /PRNewswire/ -- Deloitte LLP has been named the "model employer" in conjunction with "The Shriver Report: A Woman's Nation Changes Everything," a study released last month by Maria Shriver and the Center for American Progress. The Shriver Report is an in-depth study and analysis of what has happened, and what still needs to happen, now that women comprise half of the United States workforce and contribute significantly to household income. The study explores how business, government, the media and other institutions can work together to adapt and benefit from the trend.

The report has been delivered to President Obama, each of the Fortune 500 CEOs and all 535 members of Congress. Shriver has presented its findings to the Workforce Protections Subcommittee of the House Committee on Education and Labor.

The Shriver Report refers to Deloitte as "an excellent example of an employer that has taken an aggressive leadership position in protean career approaches," providing career-life integration programs that allow both the organization and its workforce -- women and men -- to reach their goals.

Barry Salzberg, chief executive officer of Deloitte LLP, said, "Deloitte applauds The Shriver Report's efforts to raise awareness of a trend that is not only transforming our institutions, but providing them with opportunities to grow, innovate and enhance their performance. Through our own substantial efforts to retain and advance women, we're realizing the benefits and value to our organization, to the clients we serve, and to the cities and communities in which we do business."

In 1993, Deloitte established the first major corporate initiative for the retention and advancement of women to harness opportunities presented by the growing representation of women in the workforce. Today, Deloitte's Women's Initiative focuses on building a strong pipeline of women professionals that strengthens leadership, drives marketplace growth and creates a culture where the best people -- women and men -- choose to be. Through a variety of ongoing professional development, mentoring and career-life programs, Deloitte has increased the number of women partners, principals and directors to more than 1,000 today from 97 in 1993.

Most recently, recognizing that one-size-fits-all workplace practices suit fewer and fewer professionals, Deloitte has moved from a corporate ladder to a corporate lattice model of career development. No longer is moving up the ultimate goal -- there are now many ways to have a successful career. Since adopting this model, Deloitte's has enjoyed a 25 percent increase in overall employee satisfaction with career-life fit and earned the No.1 ranking on BusinessWeek's list of "Best Places to Launch a Career" in 2009.

"Deloitte's experience since the inception of our Women's Initiative parallels the journey described in The Shriver Report -- the transition from a fixed idea of what professionals must to do develop their careers to the idea that career development can be more fluid. We have steered our organization toward a new paradigm of work, one that allows both men and women the flexibility to grow their careers and live their lives, without having to sacrifice one for the other," said Barbara Adachi, principal, Deloitte Consulting LLP, and leader of Deloitte's Women's Initiative.

Deloitte's leading talent initiatives and benefits include:

• Mass Career Customization(TM) -- a model that enables all Deloitte professionals to dial up and dial down their careers to fit their needs at various life stages

• Women as Buyers, a program to help men at Deloitte build stronger relationships with women clients and colleagues by better understanding their work styles

• A voluntary sabbatical program that allows Deloitte employees to take up to six months off to engage in volunteering and other personal pursuits

• Deloitte University, a state-of-the-art learning and leadership development facility currently under construction to foster personal and professional growth at Deloitte

• Paid parental leave with no minimum eligibility requirements, emergency back-up dependent day care, adoption assistance, and a Personal Pursuits program to support those who take career breaks for up to five years

About Deloitte

As used in this document, "Deloitte" means Deloitte LLP and Deloitte Services LP, separate subsidiaries of Deloitte LLP. Please see www.deloitte.com/about for a detailed description of the legal structure of Deloitte LLP and its subsidiaries.

Contact:
Mai Browne                   Christopher Beattie
Public Relations             MWW Group
Deloitte                     +1 212 827 3745
+1 212 492 2867              cbeattie@mww.com
maibrowne@deloitte.com

SOURCE Deloitte