Grant Thornton UK LLP today announces its 2018 gender and ethnicity pay gaps, including data on its partner population.
The firm reports a mean gender pay gap of 25% and a median pay gap of 22%. Both of these figures are 2% lower than the figures reported by the firm in for the previous financial year (2016/17) which shows a modest improvement. The firm’s mean gender pay gap for bonuses is 56% (52% median).
The mean gender pay gap including both employees and partners is 40% (median 26%) and the mean pay gap for partners only is 7% (median 14%).
The mean ethnicity pay gap is 8% for employees only and 18% for employees and partners combined. The ethnicity bonus pay gap is 1%.
Grant Thornton is continuing its drive towards becoming a fully diverse and inclusive organisation and has set a goal to be the best firm at valuing diversity through inclusion by 2023. The firm has initiated a programme of change to make significant progress on this important agenda in the next six months.
Dave Dunckley, CEO of Grant Thornton UK LLP, said:
“Creating a diverse and inclusive workforce is not only good for business; it’s an urgent and ongoing societal priority which is central to our approach at Grant Thornton. We are committed to making sure that the opportunities within Grant Thornton are equally accessible for everyone and that our firm is representative of society. To advise our clients effectively it is vital that we offer diverse perspectives – addressing this head on goes beyond gender and ethnicity in to a wider problem to do with inclusion and it is something we are addressing with urgency.
“As a leadership team we are each taking personal responsibility for a strand of diversity to ensure that action is taken to effect change at the very highest level of our firm. Working with The Bridge Group we have also undertaken a comprehensive data analysis of our people’s pay, progression, retention and performance and the intersectionality of this by socio-economic background, ethnicity and gender.
“We are using this analysis to truly understand where the barriers are and what action can be taken to address the issues that this analysis has highlighted. For instance, we now know that males and females of ethnic background, regardless of socio-economic background make up a greater proportion of the leaver population. We also know that white females from a lower socio-economic background move from Assistant Manager to Senior Manager on average 18% quicker than white females from a higher socio-economic background.
“Recognising that losing talent in this way is not acceptable from either a commercial or societal perspective I’ve launched a programme of change to accelerate progress. This includes a group-coaching programme supported by partner mentors for our mid and senior level women; a review of all reward decisions to ensure all our people are treated fairly; reverse mentoring; and this year I will be setting robust partner group goals around diversity and inclusion. I remain committed to ensuring that women make up 25% of our partner group by 2023. We must have diversity of thought and perspective if we are to advise our clients effectively in this complex environment and succeed as a firm.”