Case Study

How EY is delivering an exceptional experience for its workforce

EY People Advisory Services has helped the global EY organization realize one of the largest end-to-end HR transformations on record.
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Workforce
Alliances
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The better the question

How can EY build a better working world for its people?

Unifying more than 800 HR systems to enable a seamless experience for 300,000+ member firm employees worldwide.

A global professional services organization with more than 300,000 people, EY recognized that megatrends  – including shifting demographics, digital disruption and evolving expectations between the member firm employees and employers — were fundamentally reshaping the workplace. To stay ahead of the curve, deliver an exceptional employee experience and ultimately, better serve clients, the EY talent leadership team embarked on an end-to-end HR transformation, enabled by SAP SuccessFactors solutions.  Penny Stoker, Global Leader of HR Services states “EY people are deeply committed to building a better working world: for EY clients, for the EY organization, and for their communities. By investing heavily in employee experience, and the related tools and technologies that enable it, our people can focus on what matters most.”

How EY can Help

Over 800 systems and related processes needed to be re-aligned across multiple geographies.  Adding to the complexity, each of the member firms that comprise the EY organization needed to reimagine their approach to HR functions and transactions, deploying technology where possible to allow the EY talent team to add additional strategic value

 

Underpinning the program, a topline desire to empower the exceptional EY experience for more than 300,000 people around the world; providing them with the best learning, tools and technologies to personalize their career journey with EY from the minute they apply to work here. 

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The better the answer

A global transformation with accelerated time-to-value

A bespoke approach to HR transformation was required.

The most progressive businesses recognize the enormous benefit in putting humans — customers, employees and communities at large — at the center of how they build and evolve their businesses. With this in mind, EY People Advisory Services designed a full journey roadmap, crafted an organization design and globally consistent operating model, delivered the technology implementation and developed the necessary change management strategy to enable one of the largest HR transformation projects to date. The approach is deliberately designed to support the commitment EY makes to its people (the exceptional EY experience is yours to build), and its professionals’ increasing desire to curate careers tailored to their unique skills, interests and aspirations; requiring a solution beyond a moment-in-time strategy

The transformation was deliberately designed to support the commitment EY makes to its people: “The exceptional EY experience is yours to build.”

Guy Heiser, a Partner at Ernst & Young LLP and leader of the project for People Advisory Services, states “The global transformation of EY Talent represents one of the largest and most complex programs in the world. The full breadth of EY advisory capabilities, including people consulting, technology consulting and business consulting, was leveraged to deliver a fundamental change in the experience of 300,000 member firm employees across the globe.”

The global transformation of EY Talent represents one of the largest and most complex programs in the world. The full breadth of EY advisory capabilities, including people consulting, technology consulting and business consulting, was leveraged to deliver a fundamental change in the experience of 300,000 member firm employees across the globe.

Guy Heiser

Principal, Ernst & Young LLP

Building a consumer-grade experience for the organization’s workforce has afforded them the ability to rapidly onboard, continuously upskill, self-manage all career-related transactions with ease, all through the use of next-generation technologies underpinned by AI and delivered seamlessly across devices. Trent Henry, EY Global Vice Chair – Talent, says “As an organization we want to lead digital disruption and not wait for it to impact us. Our Talent Technology Strategy was designed to deliver business value through providing the best possible experience to our people. Getting this right means we fundamentally transform what it means to have and build a career at EY, so our people can focus on delivering exceptional service to clients.”

As an organization we want to lead digital disruption and not wait for it to impact us. Our Talent Technology Strategy was designed to deliver business value through providing the best possible experience to our people. Getting this right means we fundamentally transform what it means to have and build a career at EY, so our people can focus on delivering exceptional service to clients.

Trent Henry

EY Global Vice Chair – Talent

The EY organization was aware of the need for a compressed innovation timeline and prioritized making ideation, prototyping, piloting and commercialization happen on parallel tracks in order to deliver accelerated time to value and impact to the organization early as possible. 

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The better the world works

A foundation to enable digital innovation

Technology at speed with humans at the center to deliver an exceptional employee experience.

SAP SuccessFactors solutions provide the foundation for EY to drive the cultural change it needs to continue its digital transformation and continue delivering exceptional employee experiences as the nature of work evolves.

Maryann Abbajay

SAP SuccessFactors Chief Revenue Officer

How EY can Help

  • HR Transformation

    Our HR Transformation team can help transform your Human Resources team from HR function to human value activator. Learn more.

    Read more

Almost immediately, the transformative impact was felt across the EY organization. A singular, robust learning platform allowed EY people to look beyond required learning into forays such as digital, data visualization, AI and transformative leadership. “We’re seeing our people take advantage of our learning platform to cultivate a true growth mindset and prepare themselves to address the changing needs of EY clients,” adds Trent Henry. 

EY people are using self-service technology to complete nearly all transactions that required HR intervention previously and are happy to do so as technology is completing these tasks at speed. Help is available 24/7 through Goldie, a robust HR chatbot capable of answering many employee queries.

Maryann Abbajay, SAP SuccessFactors Chief Revenue Office states "EY’s HR transformation demonstrates the power of human experience management (HXM). By combining experience data, financial data, and people data, EY is able to access richer insights on its workforce and drive value across the business, and not just HR. SAP SuccessFactors solutions provide the foundation for EY to drive the cultural change it needs to continue its digital transformation and continue delivering exceptional employee experiences as the nature of work evolves.”

This HR transformation has enabled further transformative programs to be realized; allowing the organization to completely rethink the approach and philosophy around areas such as performance management and career planning. It has also enabled continuous learning and upskilling programs such as EY Badges, a robust learning and upskilling program and the EY Tech MBA, offered in collaboration with Hult International Business School. These programs are direct outcomes of the EY commitment to enabling innovative transformation for the organization, and the more than 300,000 people at the EY Organization that work to build a better working world each and every day.

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    EY refers to the global organization, and may refer to one or more, of the member firms of Ernst & Young Global Limited, each of which is a separate legal entity. Ernst & Young Global Limited, a UK company limited by guarantee, does not provide services to clients.