Today we publish our latest pay gap reporting which details how we have been actively working to reduce our pay gaps. So what have been the key steps regarding gender? Internally, we conducted a consultation with over 50% of our workforce; collecting qualitative and quantitative data on the barriers, opportunities and experiences surrounding gender equality in all corners of our business. Our Gender Action Plan was developed to directly respond to the gaps identified through the research. We have taken a number of practical steps to increase gender balance at all levels of our firm. Here are some of the highlights:

Client support team redesign 

Our lower paid roles traditionally were entry level roles into what used to be our secretarial function. These were often female dominated and opportunities for career progression were limited. We identified this as a barrier and undertook a significant project to dismantle and create a suite of new roles focused around technical skills and specialisms. These include Legal Team PA, Legal Team Assistant, Legal Team Administrator and Document Technicians/Specialists.

The redesign has resulted in a new set of roles that actively develop individuals professionally and encourage them to progress. Through the redefinition we have seen a significant increase in diversity of applicants – including male applicants which were not previously seen before. Additionally, by untying the Administrator and Assistant roles these individuals are able to work on projects for the non-legal side of our business too – which in many cases has resulted in career progression out of the legal teams and up into a business services specialisms (eg Operations, IT, Marketing, Finance and People).  In 2021, we promoted a total of 95 employees across business professional and administrative roles, 59% of whom were women.

Business professional’s progression 

We continue to encourage upwards progression by promoting our business professional vacancies internally. We offer a well-rounded training programme focused on progressing people from team members to management. We empower our people to take charge of their professional development by supporting professional memberships, qualifications and developing personal skills. 

Partner progression 

We have a gender focused target to ensure that at least 50% of new partner promotions will be female over the next five year period (2021-2026), with 33% female Partners by 2026. To support this target we have made a variety changes include: 

  • Expanding our Career Focus Training to improve transparency of career development opportunities for people at all levels; introduced specific career development reviews and equipping people with the necessary skills and knowledge to take ownership of their career.
  • Active management of the talent pipeline by our Managing Partner, testing it from a gender perspective
  • Increasing opportunities and representation of part-time and flexible working within the partnership
  • Integrating promotion of equality into our Partners’ performance objectives, to drive focus and improvement

Burges Salmon has recently reported its gender and ethnicity pay gap reporting for 2021. Please click here to read the 2021 report.