Royds Withy King Gender pay gap report 2018
Our commitment We believe that identifying the gender pay gap is useful in terms of creating conversations about equality, diversity and reward. As a business, we are already working towards narrowing our gender pay gap as reflected in the increasing number of women who have been successful in achieving promotions at associate, senior associate and partner level in recent years. Graham Street, Managing Partner Our business is built on our people. It is because we have such a great team that we are able to provide our clients with a first class service. To us, equal opportunities is all about enabling each and every person in our firm to achieve their potential, while we believe diversity enriches our culture and brings fresh thinking and new perspectives to our clients. We are committed to equality and diversity but we recognise that there is always room to do more. We welcome the opportunity to shine a light on this area and we are confident that by continuing to promote and support equality and diversity we will reduce our gender pay gap over time. Louise Fleming, Chair 1
What is gender pay and why are we reporting on it? All businesses with 250 employees or more are required to carry out a gender pay gap analysis and publish the results on the Government s website as well as their own, by 4 April 2018. Mean gender pay gap The mean gender pay gap is the difference between the average gross hourly earnings for all men and all women employees. Most media have reported the mean figure but over the page you will find our mean and median gender pay gaps with explanations of both. The gender pay gap calculation is based on the difference between the average hourly pay of all men and all women within a business, regardless of their role, based on a snapshot of pay in April 2017. We will be required to do the exercise again for April 2018 and annually thereafter. Although this can only ever provide a snapshot, the Government s rationale is to mobilise businesses and identify opportunities to improve equality and diversity within the workplace. We have completed and verified our analysis and our gender pay gap is 22.3%. This is our gender pay gap. What is the difference between gender pay gap and equal pay? National Average* 17.9% Royds Withy King 22.3% The gender pay gap is all about identifying the gap between the average hourly pay of men and women across the whole business, regardless of their role. Equal pay is about men and women being paid the same for doing the same or similar job or work. *Source: Office for National Statistics 2
Why the gap? Mean % Median % Like many businesses, the way our organisation is structured has a bearing on the size of our gender pay gap. Gender pay gap 22 36 Our administrative and support staff Gender bonus gap 11 0 Royds Withy King is typical of many other law firms in that we employ a high number of women in administrative and support roles. These roles, which include PAs, secretaries, telephonists, receptionists, paralegals and legal assistants, make up 37% of our workforce and are lower-paid than fee-earning roles. We actively try to attract a diverse range of applicants to these roles and will continue to do so. If we had excluded these administrative and support roles from our calculation, then our gender pay gap would be around 5%. Our lawyers Almost two-thirds (63%) of the men working at Royds Withy King are lawyers, whereas of the women, 44% are lawyers. This high percentage of male lawyers pushes the average rate of male pay upwards, and creates a bigger gap. Proportions in each quartile (by hourly pay rate) Upper quartile Upper middle quartile Lower middle quartile Lower quartile Proportions receiving bonus Male % Female % 39 61 20 80 12 88 17 83 60 67 3 Of our equity partners, 13 are female and 34 are male. The government rules for calculating the gender pay gap excludes equity partners due to the complexity of assessing equity partner pay, which differs from firm to firm. If we included equity partners in our analysis, we would have a mean gender pay gap of 45.9% and a mean bonus gap of 46.3%. We have an increasing number of women in managerial and senior fee-earning roles, with more moving up the ranks every year, and so we expect to see our gender pay gap reduce over the next few years. Note: The mean pay gap is the difference between hourly earnings for women and men, taking the sum of all hourly rates divided by the total number of men in the sample. The median pay gap is the difference between the midpoints in the ranges of hourly earnings between men and women, divided by the median hourly pay rate for men. We confirm the data reported is accurate in accordance with the Equality Act 2010 (Gender Pay Gap Information) Regulations 2017
100 BEST COMPANIES TO WORK FOR 2018 As one of the Sunday Times 100 Best Companies to Work For, we are committed to building a culture where everyone feels engaged and happy, knowing they are fully supported in achieving their personal ambitions, whatever they may be. This goes hand in glove with our commitment to equality and diversity. We work hard to provide equal opportunities for everyone, regardless of their role or seniority within the firm, and we are focussed on developing a more diverse workforce. 4