2024 Report
Our clients expect our best. They choose to work with us because they know our teams will devote all their skills, talents, and energy to delivering results. For more than three decades, a set of operating principles has guided how we do that—how we excel as a firm, as teams, and as individuals.
Our operating principles say we do the right thing always, we are passionate about results, we are practical and proactive. They promise that a Bainie never lets another Bainie fail.
They also define who we are: Diverse Teams, One Bain.
This is our business strategy: magnify and expand the strengths, perspectives, and experiences of a host of diverse talent in an inclusive and inspiring workplace, so that we can deliver extraordinary results. This is our fourth annual report on how we make that happen.
Julie Coffman
Chief Diversity Officer
Being committed to and accountable for a diverse, inclusive firm means being transparent about our progress. This is the fourth year we have shared our global and regional data, along with country-specific spotlights. We continue to see increases in women’s leadership representation and are at or near gender balance overall across all regions. Our LGBTQ population is also growing both overall and at our leadership levels. In the US, we have seen continuous progress for our underrepresented groups.
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Local Spotlights
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Fully living up to our "Diverse Teams, One Bain" aspiration takes time, patience, and learning. We are nonetheless proud to share the foundations we have built and the progress we have made in this report. Our data shows we are making strides in attracting a more diverse pipeline of talent and in ensuring that every Bainie feels they belong and can build a career here. We are proud that the work we are doing with our clients and in our communities reflects those aspirations.
*We protect our employees’ right to privacy, so our LGBTQ data is directional and based on voluntary disclosure.
Our Data
Our Ambition
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Every single Bainie is accountable for our culture. Self-examination is integrated into our regular senior leadership dialogues, and all of us are accountable for being committed, purposeful, curious, and empathetic—for making the operating principle of “Diverse Teams, One Bain” our working reality.
Our commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion means we must be thoughtful about these principles in all that we do and in how Bainies support one another throughout the firm. For example, we embedded
growth orientation into our professional development processes, including how we deliver and receive reviews and feedback. We have a network of more than 150 champions and leaders across all of our offices and functional teams who work daily to support their colleagues in building a more inclusive firm. Every leader is accountable for creating a team environment that brings out the best in each person.
This report itself is also an expression of our accountability, from the data we share with the world to the behaviors described here that we expect from every Bainie, to the fact that this report takes its name from one of our firm’s operating principles—our highest aspirations for how we interact with, care for, and support one another and our clients.
We aspire to multiyear progress, and every Bainie is expected to contribute to building a culture where everyone has the opportunity to thrive
When you walk into an environment of diverse teams that celebrates authentic individuality, you immediately want to bring your best. I lead the intersectionality pillar for Chicago Women at Bain, which acknowledges and amplifies the nuanced and multilayered identities in that community. It has been truly inspiring.
V Duffie
Director, Americas Revenue, Chicago
We are a global firm of nearly 20,000 people with different beliefs, values, and personal commitments. To function as “One Bain,” we rely on our operating principles … and on empathy. As individuals, we may see the world differently, but our work requires that we practice empathy and build understanding of multiple perspectives, so that every Bainie feels valued.
Our research demonstrates that belonging matters, for everyone, and we have expanded our focus on inclusion and inclusive behaviors in training at all levels. This includes guidance for our teams on how to navigate today’s difficult conversations and engage as colleagues when we have different points of view.
We also recognize people sometimes need extra support. We continue to invest in well-being and mental health offerings like B.E.S.T. and Spring Health, we expanded our mental health first responder community to every region, and we maintain our focus on employee benefits, such as updated transgender guidelines, that allow each Bainie to be their best self.
We invest in creating inclusive teams and broader support systems that ensure everyone feels valued
It’s so important for us to exercise empathy at Bain. The Bain teams I’ve been on are incredibly diverse, from gender and socioeconomic backgrounds to lived experiences and stages of life. Empathy lets us tap into the rich experiences that each of us bring to bear and makes the “secret sauce”—our culture—work.
Liu Yi
Manager, London
Everyone has a story—a unique background, experiences, and interests that make them who they are. We believe curiosity about each other’s stories creates a bond between listener and storyteller. To be asked your story is to feel valued; to hear someone’s story replaces assumptions with true understanding.
In the past year, we hosted storytelling events across global offices and affinity groups, including for our newest affinity group, First at Bain, to help us all learn more about each other. We also held programming
We provide a wide set of opportunities for Bainies to understand more about each other, through learning, storytelling, and internal communities
Being a member of Diverse Abilities at Bain has brought me closer to a wide group of Bainies with whom I can share experiences, learn, and grow. Storytelling also provides rich and immersive insight into other Bainies’ experiences, backgrounds, and cultures, allowing me to gain a greater understanding of others, educate myself, and foster and build deeper connections.
Emma Foley
Manager, EA/MA Program, Sydney
To best serve our clients, we need to make sure all of the world’s best business talent are aware of opportunities at Bain and encourage them to explore those opportunities. To that end, we celebrated the 15th year of the Building Entrepreneurial Leaders (BEL) exploratory program in spring 2023, hosting 138 participants across 11 North American offices, with 57 universities represented. We also hosted 76 Building and Supporting Excellence (BASE) scholars as part of our pre-MBA exploratory program across 11 North American offices. In February 2023, we launched Bain’s inaugural Connecting and Resourcing Empowered Women (CREW) exploratory program in 7 Bain offices, welcoming 215 sophomore women from 67 universities. Across EMEA, we continued to introduce
candidates to women leaders at Bain through our Women Lead to Inspire series. In Australia, we have several initiatives underway to deepen relationships with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities in an effort to provide opportunities for indigenous Australians to thrive in their careers. Our support for new consulting and business function talent continues once they join Bain. We are proud of the career opportunities available to every Bainie. To set everyone up for success, we continue to improve our professional development, assessment, and promotion processes for consultants and business function professionals, and we’ve trained our managers to mitigate bias in assessing performance and delivering feedback. We purposely invest in formal sponsorship, mentorship, onboarding, and experience-sharing programs to close any remaining gaps.
We invest in efforts to ensure an equitable talent journey and an inclusive culture
Our investment in exploratory career programs empowers individuals to take charge of their careers, leading to increased engagement and satisfaction. Bain’s culture of continuous learning and growth enables our diverse teams to bring unique perspectives and innovative solutions to the table, strengthening our collective ability to tackle our clients’ problems creatively and effectively.
Coleman Radell
Partner, Los Angeles
For nearly 35 years, we have invested in our business by making sure every Bainie can bring their best self to their work. From the first affinity groups founded decades ago, our efforts have evolved into a global ecosystem supporting diversity and inclusion for all Bainies. We are proud that surveys by external organizations rate Bain as a best place to work year after year. We want every Bainie to feel that way, but we know that isn’t always the case, so we ask our employees for feedback throughout the year to learn where we fall short and how to fix it.
Our commitment extends beyond building teams to how we conduct our own business and to the ways we engage with clients and our community. We share our research on the business benefits of inclusion with our clients and offer expertise and tools to help their teams serve their own customers and markets more effectively too. We also seek to support and empower individuals in the regions and industries we serve, such as our Women of the GCC efforts in the Middle East and our Stratos global network for women in financial services.
We know that we do not have all the answers. We demonstrate our commitment to continued learning and progress by partnering with organizations advancing diversity, equity, and inclusion around the world. In 2024, we also reached $130 million in pro bono social justice and racial and gender equity work, exceeding the $100 million commitment that we made in 2020.
Our long-standing commitment to building diverse and inclusive teams has not wavered
We remain committed to doing the work of attracting and retaining the most talented professionals from all backgrounds, which means eliminating systemic and unconscious biases so that everyone at Bain has an opportunity to thrive, to realize their full potential, and to take on leadership roles.
Tamar Dane Dor-Ner
Regional Managing Partner, Americas
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If everyone at Bain can be their best, we will deliver the best results for our clients. We will never stop investing in that goal.
Drive breakthrough results by embedding the lens of diversity, equity, and inclusion in all we do.
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We Mean Business
Diverse Teams, One Bain
Accountable
We aspire to multiyear progress, and every Bainie is expected to contribute to building a culture where everyone has the opportunity to thrive
Empathetic
We invest in creating inclusive teams and broader support systems that ensure everyone feels valued
Curious
We provide a wide set of opportunities for Bainies to understand more about each other, through learning, storytelling, and internal communities
Purposeful
We invest in efforts to ensure an equitable talent journey and an inclusive culture
Committed
Our long-standing commitment to building diverse and inclusive teams has not wavered
Our clients see our “Diverse Teams, One Bain” operating principle in action every day. The behaviors below describe how we strive to be our best as we live up to this principle—as individuals and as a firm. As Worldwide Managing Partner and a first-generation university graduate, I’m proud that each of us brings something different to our work and that, together, we serve our clients and our communities better as a result.
For Our Clients, Communities, and Each Other
Christophe De Vusser
Worldwide Managing Partner
throughout the year to engage our Bain community in the cultural moments and months that celebrate our affinity group communities. Since July 2023, more than 50 Bainies have joined our leadership and development trainer community and delivered more than 100 training sessions on unconscious bias, inclusive teaming, storytelling for inclusion, and other topics. Our affinity groups provide additional opportunities for people within Bain to bond, connect, and share experiences. Over the past year, these groups updated their names to enhance access and inclusion. Also in the past year, we expanded Diverse Abilities at Bain to EMEA and APAC, and we hosted live and virtual events for all eight of our groups.
Member: Women at Bain, Diverse Abilities at Bain
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Local Spotlights
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