Hicksons is dedicated to building an inclusive and sustainable culture which values and fosters diversity. We welcome the breadth of experience our people contribute, bringing influences across gender, race, ability, orientations, culture, educational and professional backgrounds.
As a mid-tier law firm, our workforce comprises of 73% females and 27% males. The firm seeks a diverse range of perspectives from our people and recognises the value this diversity and strength brings to the firm.
We are recognised for leading the trend of more female Partners in the legal industry, with over 50% female representation across the firm’s partnership. We support internal progression, the results of which are visible through the growth within our Partnership, with 48% of our Partners promoted organically.
Understanding The Gap
We recognise that the gender pay gap is a complex issue, and we remain dedicated to ensuring any disparities in our workforce are eliminated. Our recent gender pay gap reveals a median total remuneration pay gap of 2.0%, in contrast to the industry average of 22.9%.
The below table displays our overall median pay gap for total remuneration and base salary over the last 3 years. Notably, the firm has seen significant improvements in closing the gender pay gap.
The firm supports a remuneration strategy which effectively remunerates, rewards and recognises our workforce through an internal Committee, empowered by the Board. This ensures consistent application of remuneration and promotion decisions which are fair. We adopt a comprehensive remuneration process inclusive of benchmarking against internal analytics, market intelligence, and external data.
| All Employees |
2020-21 |
2021-22 |
2022-23 |
| Median total Remuneration |
6.7% |
20.1% |
2.0% |
| Median base salary |
7.1% |
17.1% |
0.00% |
In 2022-23, our results demonstrated a 50% split of gender at management level, including 82% of all appointments to Manager roles being held by women. This is a testament to the firm’s promotion pathways, providing clarity of process, desired outcomes and visibility of eligibility and selection criteria.
| 2022-2023 |
Managers |
| Women |
Male |
| 50% |
50% |
| |
Female |
Male |
| Appointments to manager roles (incl promotions) |
9 |
82% |
2 |
18% |
| Appointments to non-manager roles (incl promotions) |
101 |
69% |
45 |
31% |
We acknowledge that gender pay gaps can be influenced by external factors, including experience, part-time work and market availability per role. We apply fair and equitable recruitment guidelines, to ensure we attract a diverse workforce.
Notably, our Gender Pay Gap can be attributed to key factors including:
Occupational Gender Segregation
Hicksons workforce comprises of 46% of all employees employed as clerical and administrative workers, with 80% of these roles being held by women. Notably, there is a higher representation of women in lower paid roles.
Disproportionate Male to Female ratio at Board Level
Our Firm’s management gender composition is a 50% split between males and females. The higher percentage of males in senior leadership roles (ie. board level), drives our pay gap further.
Specialist consultants – Remuneration Outliers
The requirement of consultant expertise in specific fields results in remuneration outliers, influencing the total average gender pay gap.
Action & Strategies
Our business plans and strategies align with our commitment to closing the gender pay gap. We recognise that there is more work to be done and are committed to reducing our pay gap and eliminate any inadvertent biases. Our current practices and ongoing development areas include:
- Flexible working arrangements – providing flexible arrangements to accommodate employees’ diverse needs in order to retain and attract talent. These include part-time work, career breaks, job share, compressed working week etc.
- Employee engagement – we are committed to fostering a workplace culture where employees feel empowered to voice concerns. We provide opportunities to receive employee feedback and insights as to how the firm may improve through; process efficiencies or innovative ideas, and these insights contribute to change opportunities and drive people engagement.
- Recruitment – inclusive recruitment processes for all leaders, aiming to reduce bias in our recruitment and interview process.
- Regular audits – conducting regular pay equity audits to monitor progress.
- Training & Development – programs to raise awareness about unconscious bias and gender-related issues in the workplace. In addition to providing equal access to training and development opportunities and career advancement programs for all employees.
- Progression pathways – providing clarity and transparency of progression pathways.
- Adapting our workplace – to ensure we can accommodate a diverse workforce.
As we move forward, Hicksons remains committed to continuous improvement, transparency, and actions that contribute to closing the gender pay gap and promoting a workplace that fosters diversity, and exemplifies equality and inclusion. We continue to evaluate and enhance our programs to ensure their effectiveness.