Reflections from a research analyst: Five reasons I’m glad I joined Deloitte
By Krissie Ferris, Research Analyst, Centre for Health Solutions
This is my last week in the Deloitte Centre for Health Solutions, my home at Deloitte for almost two years. I'm not moving far though as I’m joining Deloitte’s Technology Digital Risk (TDR) Public Sector Health team, where I’ll be working with clients across the NHS and the wider healthcare industry to digitise ways of working and to help realise the huge opportunities for operational efficiencies and improved patient outcomes that can be enabled through technology. Having started my career in the NHS, I’m excited to start this new chapter and bring with me the knowledge and skills I’ve developed in my research role at the Centre. This blog reflects on my fabulous time at Deloitte so far and shares some of the reasons I’m looking forward to joining the health team.
About Deloitte’s Healthcare and Life Sciences practice
First, it’s worth briefly explaining that Deloitte UK has two overlapping industry groups that work closely together:
- Health care, which sits within the Government and Public Services industry and provides professional services to over 250 NHS organisations.
- Life Sciences & Health Care, which primarily works with pharma, medical technology, biotech and private healthcare organisations.
The UK Centre for Health Solutions, led by our director Karen Taylor, supports both the health care and life sciences practices, keeping them up to date on industry trends and challenges, undertaking primary research activities and sharing thought leadership pieces. Within the two industries, there are a range of cross-cutting services available to clients, including consulting, risk advisory, financial advisory, audit and assurance, and tax.1 Teams within and across these service lines work closely together, given that they serve the same health ecosystem. In addition, teams collaborate nationally and globally, and during my time at the Centre I’ve worked with colleagues in teams across more than ten countries.
Five reasons to join Deloitte’s healthcare and life sciences team
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People: one of the things I enjoy most about Deloitte is working with its people. For me, having strong working relationships is incredibly important, and I love that I have the opportunity to work with people who are hardworking, knowledgeable and passionate about our industry. Our team has remained strongly connected throughout the pandemic, and there are over 12 diversity networks to join and meet likeminded individuals and attend events (I’m part of the Gender Balance network and the Women in Tech network). |
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Making an impact that matters: Deloitte’s annual Millennial Survey consistently shows younger generations want to work for companies with a purpose beyond profit, that share their values, and that make them feel they are empowered to make a difference.2 In my experience, leaders across the health care and life sciences teams encourage employees to pursue the causes they are interested in either through work projects, or through internal events and campaigns. I’ve had plenty of opportunities to continue working on my personal passion for mental health both as part of my research role and in using volunteering hours that are granted by the firm. I have also been able to support teams across the firm (nationally and globally) on mental health consulting projects and eminence pieces. |
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A diverse and inclusive working community: On a related note, Deloitte globally is making huge efforts to improve its understanding and actions towards diversity and inclusion in the workplace; continuously striving to cultivate a culture and environment that provides people with a sense of belonging and opportunities to be their true authentic selves and achieve their full potential. In response to the killing of George Floyd in May 2020 and the subsequent Black Lives Matter movement, Deloitte launched its Black Action Plan, and all leaders are accountable for ongoing progress against our inclusion agenda.3 This is just the start of our journey, and personally I’m glad Deloitte is taking positive action towards closing ethnicity and gender pay gaps.4 |
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Learning and development opportunities: The health care team offers me significant opportunities to learn and grow new skills – both formally and informally. These include soft skills, such as networking and creative thinking, as well as technical skills, such as subject matter expertise. Throughout my time at the Centre I’ve learnt so much about the NHS and wider health care ecosystem by conducting research on a wide variety of topics, whilst at the same time developing my writing and thought leadership skills. I’ve also had the opportunity to be mentored by some amazing coaches who are fantastic role models. |
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Flexibility: A big plus for me, in my current team (as well as my new one), has been working virtually throughout the pandemic and the recognition of the need for plans to support hybrid/ flexible working as we move into the new ‘future of work’. Like many of my colleagues, I enjoy the balance of home working (where my sausage dog Henry reminds me to take a lunch break so I can walk him), and office/site working, where I get to connect and network with my team and also with colleagues I don’t often work with (and soon I will get to meet with clients in person too!). |
So that concludes my last blog from my time at the Centre – however, I plan to continue to look for and collaborate on other blog subjects in the future. I also look forward to following the Centre’s research outputs with interest and using the insights for my own development as well as sharing with clients as part of my new role. I am so grateful for my time so far, both at the Centre and Deloitte more widely. If you are considering a move into Deloitte’s health care team (either from an internal or external role) please do reach out to me or my colleagues across the health care and life sciences practices!
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1 https://www2.deloitte.com/uk/en/explore/home.html?adobe_mc_sdid=SDID%3D76CF84B24C07FB9B-350B9E29074B838D%7CMCORGID%3D5742550D515CABFF0A490D44@AdobeOrg%7CTS%3D1629286763&adobe_mc_ref=https:%2F%2Fwww2.deloitte.com%2Fuk%2Fen%2Fexplore%2Fhome.html
2 https://www2.deloitte.com/content/dam/Deloitte/global/Documents/2021-deloitte-global-millennial-survey-report.pdf
3 Black Action Plan | Deloitte UK
4 https://www2.deloitte.com/uk/en/pages/about-deloitte-uk/articles/reducing-our-pay-gap.html
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