Trond-Morten Lindberg, CEO, BDO EMEA: BDO sponsors Women’s European Handball Championship. Our sponsorship of the Women’s EHF EURO 2018 comes at the end of a year that has seen BDO firms continuing to champion inclusion and diversity and in many cases, obtaining recognition in this regard. BDO attributes its sustained growth to our balanced, egalitarian culture, where the path to leadership is open for all our professionals. Diversity is good for people and good for business.
BDOs business value of having gender balance is our competitive advantage. Its a matter of social justice and corporate social responsibility. How does it support BDOs strategy? Gender diversity in executive teams is strongly correlated with profitability and value creation.
Having gender equality at the top benefits everyone: its good for both men and women to shift stereotypical ideas around gender roles just as the status quo is holding women back from leadership roles, it is holding men back from embracing caretaking and support roles.
At BDO Law in Latvia, our administration staff are female, 52% of professional staff are female, and both partners equally represent each gender.
We create a sense of inclusiveness & belonging by welcoming all and include in conversations, more complex engagements to learn and develop further and regularly reviewing processes to avoid excluding a group. We help people feel at ease being a minority in a group, for example-our colleagues from foreign countries.
Our core purpose is helping people thrive every day, and part of that commitment is fostering a culture that not only celebrates individual differences, but actively supports people with a range of backgrounds, perspectives, and ways of working.
People helping people achieve their dreams is one of our focus areas. Our motivation is helping people get to where they want to be whether thats our colleagues, our clients or in the communities we are part of. At BDO Law, exceptional client service begins and ends with exceptional regard for our people. Thats why we dont just hire individuals with skills and talent; we provide them with the environment and mentorship they need to grow as professionals and make significant contributions at all levels of their careers. We listen carefully to their needs and aspirations even if stating differently.
We help our staff and partners meet their work-life balance needs while enabling them to achieve their professional career dream. We believe that balancing work life allowing all people to manage their time according to their needs, be it children, ageing parents, further education, sport, travelling, etc. and thats all with no pressure, no questions asked, no career impact. People who work in a flexible environment are happier, better-performing, and more committed in short, theyre better at what they do.
Corporate Social Responsibility
BDO Law has a great interest in and concern for the society we live in and expresses this by contributing to various endeavours that promote health, culture and education. One of our goals is to promote transparency in society and to reduce corruption at national and international levels in politics, in business and mutual relations.
We teach students on various tax and legal issues at universities and colleges. For example, BDO Law associates are giving annual lectures in Art Law to bachelor students from Riga Graduate School of Law. The goal of the course is to introduce students to the history of art law and to identify legal risks and problems in the field of art.
Occasionally, BDO Law provides pro bono services free of charge or for a reduced fee, especially if that helps not only the individual but whole society. One of the recent court cases was broadly discussed in media and has brought attention to problems regarding dual citizenship in Latvia.
BDO Law regularly supports the Latvian Tennis Union, so it could prosper the growth and development of young tennis players who are full of perspective.
For many years in a row BDO LAW associates have been preparing books that contain annotations for Latvian Labour Law. The annotation is based on court practices in Latvia and the EU with practical examples. BDO LAW has given out the books to BA School of Business and Finance, Riga Graduate School of Law, University of Latvia and Jekabpils Agrobusiness College.