DIVERSITY RANKINGS

Every company claims to be diverse. They love to toss around words like open, inclusive, equity, and allyship. In the end, which firms practice the principles they preach?

That depends on the context, but certain patterns do emerge in Vault’s consultant survey. Using the same 1-10 scoring system as the Quality of Work and Life measures, respondents assessed their firms in six dimensions ranging from race to gender to disabilities. Let’s just say only one company ranked among the Top 5 in every dimension: ghSMART.

PUTTING DEI FRONT-AND-CENTER

A 30-year-old boutique focused on leadership advisory services, ghSMART ranked #1 for Overall Diversity in a repeat of the 2023 Vault Consulting 50 survey. In addition, the firm collected the highest scores for diversity in the LGBTQ+, Military Veterans, Race and Ethnicity, and Women dimensions. One reason, says a ghSMART consultant surveyed by Vault in 2022, is the firm prioritizes diversity across the operation.

“Over 55% of our consultants are women, including 53% of our partners. Over 35% of our team are diverse in some way (racial, ethnic, LGBTQ+, veterans, etc.) All of our committees have strong representation from all groups to ensure our leadership teams are diverse. Along with this, our highly transparent scorecards (job expectations) and compensation system apply equally to everyone, ensuring everybody has equal access to work and gets rewarded the same way. Our surveys with external benchmark providers tell us we are in the 95th percentile with respect to our DE&I practices.”

Aminad Consulting is another firm committed to supporting diversity. It ranked 2nd for LGBTQ+, Military Veterans, and Overall Diversity. A boutique operating in the public sector transformation space, Aminad Consulting follows ghSMART’s example of placing diversity front-and-center in the organization, be it annual DEI training or monthly focus groups designed to measure the firm’s progress towards DEI goals.

“DEI is front of mind at Aminad and driven by those that work there,” explains one anonymous consultant. “Those who choose to be a part of the DEI team host company events for thoughtful and open discussion on relevant topics. I feel that all consultants have equal access at Aminad due to the great work that the DEI team do to ensure the company upholds its commitment to DEI initiatives.”

Here are the 5 highest-ranked firms in each of the Diversity dimensions:

 

Disabilities

1) Putnam

2) BPM Advisory

3) Bain & Company

4) ghSMART

5) Boston Consulting Group

 

LGBTQ+

1) ghSMART

2) Aminad Consulting

3) Putnam

4) OC&C Strategy Consultants

5) Epsilon Economics and Life Sciences

 

Military Veterans

1) ghSMART

2) Aminad Consulting

3) ScottMadden Management Consultants

4) Bain & Company

5) Insigniam

 

Race and Ethnicity

1) ghSMART

2) SciVida

3) The Poirier Group

4) Clarkston Consulting

5) BPM Advisory

 

Women

1) ghSMART

2) Health Advances

3) Insigniam

4) The Bridgespan Group

5) Eagle Hill Consulting

 

Overall Diversity

1) ghSMART

2) Aminad Consulting

3) Bain & Company

4) Putnam

5) Boston Consulting Group

Next Page: Practice Area Rankings