New African-American hires in PricewaterhouseCoopers’ intensive three-day Vanguard on-boarding program call the experience “transformative.”

Keeping diversity top of mind during the economic downturn was important to this accounting firm, which offers audit and assurance, tax and advisory services. Last year, it hosted a major diversity leadership forum, dubbed “Bad Times Don’t Last; Good People Do,” for more than 700 clients, executives and partners. Speakers ranged from Condoleezza Rice, who spoke about her childhood in the segregated South, to author Malcolm Gladwell, who talked about the role one’s environment plays in achievement. That kind of innovative programming around issues facing multicultural employees has recently opened doors for a new generation of African-American campus hires: A few months after the conference, a freshman group of these young professionals (60% of whom were women) participated in Vanguard, a three-day intensive on-boarding program designed to give them career advice, coaching and the feedback that’s so vital to early success. Specific resource groups for female, Asian-American and African-American employees provide mentoring and education to the rest of the population. Multicultural senior managers and directors enjoy their own networking events with senior leaders through the firm’s Diamond program.

Multicultural Women 16%
U.S. Chairman & Senior Partner Bob Moritz
Partner, Chief Diversity Officer Niloufar Molavi

At PricewaterhouseCoopers, multicultural women represent…
1% of corporate executives
7% of senior managers
8% of the top earners
19% of the company hires
19% of the company losses
16% of participants in mentoring programs
16% of participants in career counseling programs