News
Gender pay gap report
Since 2017 companies employing over 250 people have been required by law to report on their gender pay gap. While we were below the reporting threshold when the legislation came into effect, we embraced the Government’s initiative from the outset by evaluating and reporting our figures within our business.
Recent expansion means we are reporting externally for the first time. As an employee-owned business, all 280 co-owners, including senior leadership, are included in our reported figures[1].
In 2019, our mean gender pay gap was 39.9%. This has reduced from 45% in 2017.
Among our non-director level roles the mean pay gap is 9%, demonstrating a diverse talent pipeline. There is close to no pay gap for mid to junior level roles.
Our 2019 median gender pay gap is 29.5%. This has improved from 42% in 2017.
In 2019, our mean bonus gap was 59%. The median was 49%. This gap is expected to reduce as more women move into senior roles.
The distribution of men and women across the pay quartiles over the past two years indicates that women’s pay is becoming more evenly distributed across the pay range, increasing from 18% in the upper pay quartile in 2017 to 23% in 2019.
Despite having made progress in closing the gap we recognise that further improvements need to be made. As such, nurturing talent and building a more diverse and inclusive employee-owned company remain high strategic priorities for our business.
Over the past two years, we have introduced several initiatives to support our strategic inclusion and diversity goals. These include: introducing informal flexible working arrangements for all co-owners; enhancing shared parental pay; joining Real Estate Balance and signing up and implementing the CEO commitments; and rolling out unconscious bias workshops across our offices which have been led by our co-owner inclusion and diversity group – ‘Embrace’.
We have also invested in the services of an external Inclusion and Diversity Consultant to review our approach and help us prepare an action plan to develop and improve our approach. Our commitments include:
- Increasing the visibility of our women
- Introducing a sponsorship programme
- Showcasing flexible working
- Introducing parental coaching
- Conducting a full equal pay audit
- Considering publishing pay bands
- Providing greater clarity on our promotions process
Speaking about our commitments going forward, Senior Director, HR, Chrysta Poppitt said:
“We have taken proactive steps to start to close our gender pay gap over the last two years. There are no quick fixes and we are taking actions which will bring about longer term, sustainable change within our company and our industry. As a company our strategy includes inclusion and diversity, and we recognise the importance and benefits of a diverse workforce. We are currently working with our co-owners on some great initiatives and are looking forward to implementing our action plan to make further improvements over the coming months and years.”
Chief Executive, Dave Trimingham added:
“Addressing our gender pay gap and improving diversity in senior positions are key priorities for our business. We have a strong and diverse talent pipeline and are taking proactive steps to ensure this is reflected in the future leadership of our business and sector.”
For more information please contact Chrysta Poppitt.
23 March 2020
[1] All our senior leaders are employees of the business and included within our reported data