Think, Act, Report: PwC
Publishing our gender pay gap - commitment and accountability
Issue to be resolved
As supporters of the Government’s Think, Act, Report campaign we understand the business benefits of diversity and wanted to take a lead on pay transparency by publicly reporting our gender pay gap information.
Action taken
We seek to ensure that our pay policies and practices are fair and, as part of a broad range of diversity and equality initiatives, we conduct regular equal pay reviews and gender pay gap reviews across PwC UK. This involves a review of our pay and bonus outcomes for the firm as a whole and by each of our lines of business and individual business units, taking account of performance and grade.
We have been analysing our gender pay gap since 2003 and have expanded our review to include ethnicity and working pattern. Our business involves supporting other organisations with their public reporting. It’s important to us that we get this right ourselves by demonstrating our ‘Total Impact’ to all our stakeholders including business and society; diversity and inclusion is critical to that reporting.
In 2014 we published our single figure gender pay gap of 15.1% in our Transparency Report and an adjusted pay gap figure of 2.5%. We adjust the single figure pay gap for the different gender demographic across the grades, as we have more men than women at our senior grades. In our 2015 Annual Report we published our updated single figure pay gap of 15.3% and the adjusted pay gap of 2.8% together with a summary of actions we are taking to improve. It’s important to provide explanatory narrative as the numbers alone show a slight increase, yet we do know that actions, such as promoting women to more senior levels can negatively impact the pay gap in the short-term.
To anticipate queries from our staff following publication, we communicated details of the pay gap in our internal news channel and briefed business leaders so they could answer any questions raised. As a limited liability partnership, we don’t have to report, but disclosing our gender pay gap supports our commitment to transparency and action on this agenda.
Results
Reporting our gender pay gap holds us accountable for taking action to address issues identified. We’ve used the results to drive action, for example identifying the diversity impact before making decisions on ”out of cycle” bonuses for staff at risk of leaving or ”signing on” bonuses.
Equal pay reviews and gender pay gap reviews are retrospective, so we’ve enhanced our reward reporting so leaders can review pay and bonus proposals by gender, ethnicity and working pattern prior to being finalized to proactively address any anomalies. We also require them to complete a diversity checklist prior to signing off their annual review.
Our equal pay work is very much embedded into our broader talent and inclusion agenda and one of many diversity checks that we do routinely. We have shared our gender pay gap data, internally with our people, highlighting to them the many steps we are taking to move the dial on diversity and lead the way for our industry. Our reputation and brand has benefited from gender pay disclosure and other companies have approached us for insights. In 2015 we won the Business in the Community/Government Equalities Office Transparency Award.
Next Steps
We will continue to report on our gender pay gap and the actions we are taking to improve. This reporting is embedded within the annual reporting process and our progress is continually reviewed by the Executive Board.