We are happy to report improvements in all required calculations for gender pay gap data this year. These are:
- A reduction of 2.2% on our gender pay gap for hourly pay, to 34.2% (24.8% median), compared to last year’s 36.4% (26.4% median)
- All female staff received a bonus payment this year (compared to 98.5% last year)
- The disparity between the average bonuses of men and women has reduced marginally to a mean bonus gap of 61.8%
Having a lower proportion of women in senior higher paid roles relative to men in the business is the reason for our gender pay gap for hourly and bonus pay. This is demonstrated by our average (mean) pay gap for hourly pay reducing significantly to 8.2% (12.3% median) for staff below Senior Director level. Additionally, the disparity between the average bonuses of men and women reduces to 28.4% (30.4% median), and 13% of all our staff are part-time, and of this 11% are female and the bonus data does not allow us to recognise this.
Although there is a higher proportion of men than women in the upper pay quartile, there is now a higher proportion of women in the other three quartiles, which will assist us in our goal of more women progressing to the top of the firm over time.
Part of our agenda to achieve greater equity, diversity and inclusion across the business commits us to making progress on closing our gender pay gap, and includes supporting employees in all stages of their careers, and by helping moving more women achieve senior positions.
We have a nearly equal balance of males (50.4%) and females (49.6%) throughout the business, and we pay equally and fairly for equivalent jobs, which fosters an inclusive work environment, increased job satisfaction, improved morale and better productivity.
We continue to promote hybrid and flexible working throughout the business and have enhanced family friendly policies to help encourage our staff to better balance their work and private lives, support those on family friendly leave and, upon returning, to increase chances of career progression.
We maintain an established and transparent performance and promotion processes where any learning and development needs are identified individually and we deliver a complete training programme for all levels of staff to allow equal progression. We are continually investing more in L&D to ensure staff can reach their full potential, enjoy their work and prosper.
We are equitable, inclusive and striving to be more diverse throughout the business to ensure we better reflect the communities we work and plan for. We have an EDI Policy together with a detailed Operating Plan and a staff EDI team. We have equal opportunity recruitment and training programmes, a Health and Wellbeing team.
We are 100% owned by an Employee Benefit Trust, and our ownership structure is something our staff value highly. We regularly seek feedback from employees to better understand their needs in a fair and inclusive environment.
The gender pay gap is the difference between the average pay of men and women as a proportion of men’s earnings, and in the UK in 2017, legislation was introduced to address gender pay gaps through gender pay reporting. Employers with 250 or more staff are required to publish annual calculations showing the pay gap between male and female employees.
