How we’re helping drive positive societal impact around the world

Social Impact

July 7, 2020Our society faces many complex and interrelated problems. At McKinsey, we believe that we have the ability—and an obligation—to help. Our recently published 2019 Social Responsibility Report captures many examples of how we’re helping create positive, enduring change in the world by giving back to our communities, managing our firm in environmentally sustainable ways, and conducting our client work responsibly.

We share this report annually, as part of our participation in the UN Global Compact. While the crises of COVID-19 and racial injustice have dominated headlines recently, the systemic problems that exacerbate their effects are not new. As we continue to contribute our time, capabilities, and resources to make the world a better place, we are proud to share this look at how we tackled pressing challenges and created change that matters in 2019.

Supporting communities

Change that matters: Four ways we're helping drive positive societal impact around the world

Below are three examples of some of our pro-bono work from 2019:

1. Our Middle East Office launched pilot projects with the International Rescue Committee (IRC) in Lebanon and Jordan to improve aid delivery to refugees and streamline financial and operational support for IRC workers and partner organizations. These efforts resulted in the ability for IRC to serve an additional 1,000 refugees through improved delivery-fleet management, a 45 percent decrease in wait time for supplies during operations, and faster compensation for refugee aid workers, who were paid within three days instead of two months.

2. When Mozambique was devastated by two cyclones just weeks apart, we joined UNICEF’s country office to use data analytics to more effectively expedite damage assessments and track relief efforts. We also helped the Mozambique government and other country stakeholders design a program to reconstruct the national school system.

3. Our people continue to dedicate time to Generation, the independent nonprofit founded by McKinsey to address the most persistent barriers to employment for learners and employers. In 2019, more than 10,000 people graduated from Generation’s programs, which have seen over 37,000 graduates to date.

Four ways we’re helping drive positive societal impact around the world

Mental health challenges are common occurrences in many people’s lives, but when compounded by crises and other external factors, they can pose a threat to employee health and well-being. In 2019, we introduced Mind Matters—a firmwide confidential support program focused on providing intervention support and increasing awareness around mental health issues.

Mind Matters grants all McKinsey employees and their family members access to trained mental health clinical professionals, early-intervention programs, and a website with local points of contact and resources, internal training, and condition-specific information.

Operating responsibly

Through our support for carbon offset projects like Tropical Mix, which aims to restore a healthy forest ecosystem in Panama while supporting the sustainable production of cacao and timber, our investment in sustainability research and insights, and our own internal practices, we’ve made significant environmental sustainability progress—including maintaining zero net carbon emissions since 2018.

We’re also on track to use 100 percent renewable electricity by 2025 and have significantly reduced our carbon footprint by traveling less and working with our suppliers on environmental goals.

Women now make up almost half of McKinsey’s global workforce. Our number of female partners has more than doubled since 2015, and women make up 30 percent of our executive committee.

We are committed to ensuring diverse representation across all levels of our firm, offering specific sponsorship programs for women and affinity colleagues, as well as flexible working programs, unconscious bias training programs, and equitable benefits to all our colleagues, regardless of race, gender, sexual orientation, or any other characteristic.

Finally, we continue to invest in our highly-cited research on the business benefits of diversity and inclusion, exploring topics that include the potential impacts of automation on women, the racial wealth gap in the United States, and the economic benefits of full gender equality in the Middle East. Over the past decade, we’ve invested over $20 million in these research efforts around diversity, equity, and inclusion and have recently committed to 10 action steps towards combating racial injustice.