DWF's Combined Gender Pay Gap, which includes data for all UK employees and partners, has fallen from 50% in 2017 to 48% in 2018 in mean terms. As a median the Combined Gender Pay Gap has fallen from 36% to 32%. DWF's mean Bonus Gap has also fallen from 51% to 45% and from 32% to 23% as a median. The mean pay gap for employees has fallen from 24% to 23%, while for partners it has increased from 13% to 16%. To view all data, please see DWF's Gender Pay Gap report here >
Helen Hill, HR Director at DWF Law LLP, said: "By most metrics, DWF's gender pay reporting is moving in the right direction albeit with a lot of work still to do. We are making progress, but we know that it will take time. Our partner gender pay gap has increased slightly, influenced in part by merger and acquisition activity in the reporting period, which has unintentionally impacted female representation at senior levels. We are committed to addressing this and in our 2018/19 financial year more than a third of people promoted to partner or director were women. We also have 30% female representation across our PLC and Executive boards.
"As with many businesses in our industry, our gender pay gap stems from having more men in senior, higher paid roles. Over the past year, we have taken further steps to improve our gender diversity initiatives and continue to monitor data to understand the causes of our gender imbalance. We have invested in our female talent pipeline and partnered with Women Returners as a founding member of their Law Returners scheme. This offers paid six-month professional ‘returnship’ placements, ensuring that women resuming their career in the legal industry receive advice, support and inspiration. DWF's Gender Network 'This is Me' also supports the development and retention of talented female talent and provides a platform for all our colleagues to network and build business relationships."
