Armanino participated in the MOVE Project in 2017 and 2020. In addition to MOVE’s relevant benchmark data, we went a step further and performed internal surveys as well as live one-on-one interviews to dive deeper into the reasons why our women were not being promoted to partnership at the same rate as their male counterparts. This data has been a core pillar to strategies and programs we implemented to help close the gaps.
The MOVE Survey results also showed that both male and female managers were confused on the criteria, qualifications and benefits of partnership. And in fact, women were opting out of partnership at a much higher rate than men. We created a Transparency to Partnership presentation to educate managers on the expectations and benefits of partnership at the firm.
The goal of the presentation is to reduce the number of leaders opting out of partnership as a potential career path. It covers topics such as flexibility, types of paths to partner, workload management, criteria and qualifications. It is made available to all interested employees in order to address misconceptions and barriers. The 2020 MOVE Survey saw fewer women opting out of partnership, and those who changed their minds cited the transparency presentation as the leading reason.
The Bridge has a focused strategy on growing a pipeline that will help lead to a greater percentage of women managers being promoted to partners at the firm. Through the MOVE Survey, we learned one of the key levers for a healthy internal pipeline is strong advocacy. In 2018, we launched the Executive Access Program to pair high-potential female managers with firm executives, empowering them to build relationships with key leaders who will help advocate for them.
Our Progress
We participated in the 2020 MOVE Survey, which showed our progress in three years was significant in closing more gaps between males and females.