The chief executive of the Australian arm of a major multinational accounting firm said he was “saddened and shocked” by the death of a woman at its Sydney office but conceded the workplace culture was “not perfect”.
Ernst and Young Oceania chief executive and regional managing partner David Larocca told the public hearings into consulting firms on Monday that he launched an independent review into the culture at the firm, noting the outcome would be “uncomfortable”.
“You are likely aware of the tragic passing of one of our colleagues in our Sydney office last year … her death saddened and shocked me,” Mr Larocca told the inquiry.
Allegations of toxic workplace culture emerged at the consultancy firm after the 37-year-old senior auditor took her own life on August 27 last year.
Colleagues were shocked when the woman fell to her death from the 11th floor of the building, previously having told friends she was struggling at work. It is not suggested workplace culture contributed to the woman’s death.
Mr Larocca said the independent review would “invite scrutiny”, as he accepted he knew the workplace “was not perfect”.
He said the firm would also be “completely transparent” and would first release the entire report to workers at the firm, then to the public.
“It was clear to me and my leadership team that we needed to pause and reflect on our workplace,” Mr Larocca said.
“So one of the actions we took in September last year was to instigate a review into workplace culture at EY. We invited the scrutiny because I know that we’re not perfect.”
He said the review, led by a third-party organisation with a “strong reputation for independent evidence-based truth telling”, would be “independent, extensive and rigorous”.
The inquiry was told by releasing the review to the public, there would be “no self-censorship” and the firm would be held accountable for improving.
“The review will enable us to hear about how we can become an organisation that is more inclusive, one that creates a greater sense of belonging, one that embraces and learns more from the diversity of our staff and our partners,” Mr Larocca said.
“I have no doubt that the release of this review publicly will be uncomfortable.”
Mr Larocca said while it would be uncomfortable, it would be “more uncomfortable” not knowing about the day-to-day experience of employees and “not doing anything about it”.
The report had not yet been finalised.
The inquiry is being held in response to the PwC scandal, in which it was revealed some senior partners of the consulting firm misused confidential federal government information to help large multinational companies cut their tax bills.
Their Australian chief executive has quit, nine partners have stood down, and the AFP is investigating the company’s international tax expert Peter John Collins, the key player in the fiasco.