LONDON—June 29, 2023­­—Bain & Company is honoured to be featured today for a third year running in The Times newspaper’s prestigious list of the UK’s Top 50 Employers for Gender Equality, published in partnership with Business in the Community (BITC).

BITC experts who compiled the list for The Times recognised Bain & Company for its extensive and progressive programmes for employees, dedication to achieving diversity and gender equality at all levels of its organisation and its generous and market-leading parental leave policies.

Bain is also commended for its policies and approach to supporting lower paid women, recruitment, provision of workplace psychological safety and for embracing and celebrating difference.

The inclusion of Bain & Company’s UK business in The Times list of leading employers for women marks the third year in row that the firm has been honoured by selection for the accolade.

“We are hugely pleased to be recognised, and for a third consecutive year, by The Times and by Business in the Community. We’re excited to see our committed approach to diversity and gender equality highlighted in this way once again,” said James Hadley, Bain & Company’s UK Managing Partner. “For Bain, effective steps to tackle and reduce gender inequality are of vital importance for our business and we continue to devote our energy and attention to taking truly consequential action to address every aspect of this, and related issues.

“Leading in this area is a priority for Bain worldwide and we’re determined to continued pursuit of this as a firm – and as we also look to help redefine the consulting industry on this, too. We continue to invest in this agenda for the benefit of our people across every area of the firm’s work. Our approach to recruiting, equal parental leave policy, the flexible working options we provide to our teams, and – crucially – our supportive workplace culture are all important elements of this.”

Bain & Company is an industry leader in the UK in offering equal paid parental leave and was one of the first UK companies to offer this to all employees who become new parents, regardless of role and gender, providing staff members with up to 52 weeks of leave, with the first 29 weeks fully paid.

“Our market leading policy on equal parental leave is a key component of our approach to addressing gender equality and we believe that providing this is a highly effective mechanism towards that cause,” said Barney Hamilton, Chief Talent Officer for Bain & Company in the UK. “We are also intensely focused on our broader efforts to promote gender equality as a core goal for our Talent agenda in the UK, as well as continuing to strive for the best and fastest progress possible on diversity more generally.”

Bain and gender equality: market leading programmes and initiatives

Bain’s gender equality policies include a commitment to recruiting at parity and to retaining and promoting women at the same level as men. In 2018 the firm launched its True North Scholarship for Women to support exceptional female students and encourage them to enter management consulting, an industry where women are traditionally underrepresented.

Bain is also pioneering in the consulting sector with an industry-first initiative, Stratos, bringing together C-suite executives from financial services to expand their networks, share their expertise and experience, and champion the next generation of female financial services leaders. The initiative includes the Stratos CEO Club, an exclusive Bain-backed network, and the Stratos Academy, an invitation-only network of high-potential women leaders from across financial services run in conjunction with the Stratos CEO Club. The Stratos Academy’s participants come together for training programs through a combination of in-person training and virtual connection events with world-class trainers and industry-leaders, enabling them to build a powerful and exclusive global network.

Diversity, equity and inclusion is a strategic priority for Bain & Company, which relies on extraordinary teams that deliver unparalleled results for our clients. The firm does this by assembling the most diverse set of experiences, backgrounds, strengths and perspectives and bringing this diversity to help our clients address their most important business challenges. 

The Times Top 50 Employers for Gender Equality is the UK’s most highly profiled and well-established listing of employers striving for gender equality in the workplace. It was previously known as The Times Top 50 Employers for Women and was renamed this year when BITC scrutinised a record number of companies for the list.

Run by the charity Business in the Community – The Prince’s Responsible Business Network – for more than a decade, the highly rigorous and competitive process used to select the businesses chosen, including a “double-blind evaluation”, identifies companies which make gender equality part of their business strategy and are trying to bring it to life at all levels of the organisation. Inclusion in the list recognises progress by the selected firms and examples of best practice, impact, innovation and individual achievement.

Applicants are assessed on a range of areas, including their approach to recruitment, family friendly policies and how they have championed gender equality in the context of the pandemic. The complete list of The Times Top 50 Employers for Women 2022 can be found here.

Bain & Company has earned recognition around the world as a great place to work

In January, Bain was named as the UK’s number one employer in Glassdoor’s ranking of the country’s top 50 Best Places to Work 2023. The number one ranking was based solely on the input of employees who voluntarily provide anonymous feedback on Glassdoor. Also in January, Bain & Company was ranked as the top consulting firm on Glassdoor’s list of the 100 Best Places to Work, ranking third among large US companies. Bain is currently the only company to have earned a number one ranking on five separate occasions and has consistently ranked in the top four since Glassdoor founded the list in 2008.

In March, Bain received the number one placing in each of Vault’s 2023 consulting sector rankings in North America, Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA), and Asia-Pacific (APAC), and was lauded for its commitment to employee quality of live and diversity.

In April, Bain was also ranked as one of Fortune magazine’s 100 Best Companies to Work For, for a fourth consecutive year, and was the only firm of the “premium three” management consulting firm included on the Fortune list. Based on employees' experiences of workplace culture, the list factors in employee insights on respect, support, fairness, meaningful work and collaboration. Bain & Company was noted for its commitment to employee wellbeing, training and career growth.

Media contacts:

To arrange an interview or for any enquiries, please contact:

Gary Duncan (London) — Email: gary.duncan@bain.com

About Business in the Community and The Times Top 50 Employers for Gender Equality

Business in the Community is the oldest and largest business-led membership organisation dedicated to responsible business. It was created nearly 40 years ago by HRH The Prince of Wales to champion responsible business. It inspires, engages and challenges members and we mobilise that collective strength as a force for good in society to:   

1. Develop a skilled and inclusive workforce for today and tomorrow; 
2. Build thriving communities where people want to live and work; 
3. Innovate to sustain and repair our planet. 

Each year, Business in The Community invites companies with a presence in the UK to apply for The Times Top 50 Employers for Women by detailing what they are doing to work towards gender equality in their organisation. The list is selected by gender equality experts at Business in the Community through a competitive and robust application process. The list is published by The Times and BITC. It is unranked and published showing the included businesses in alphabetical order.