Follows Allen & Overy in publishing voluntary figures
Linklaters has become only the second major UK law firm to publish its ethnicity pay gap figures, revealing a partner inclusive UK mean of 30.3%. The median is 0%.
The firm’s decision to voluntarily disclose the figures comes just days after the government closed a consultation on whether mandatory reporting will help address ethnic disparities, particularly with regards to pay and career progression.
Taking its high-earning partners out of the equation, Linklaters’ mean and median ethnicity pay gaps come out at 8.6% and -6.4%, respectively. The bonus ethnicity pay gap, again excluding partners, is 42.6% (mean) and 6.1% (median).
Linklaters says its decision to publish the figures is part of a wider “strategy to increase the representation of BAME [black, Asian and minority ethnic] colleagues at all levels in the firm”. Commenting on the gap, the report states:
“Our BAME population is relatively small, so changes within the BAME group can have a disproportionate impact on our pay gap figures. We also rely on our people to voluntarily report on their ethnicity to inform this data.”
As part of today’s report, Linklaters also published its latest gender pay figures — a mean result of 61.1% and a median of 37%, inclusive of partners. This compared to last year’s results of 60.3% (mean) and 44.2% (median). Taking partners out of the equation, the mean and median gaps drop to 20.8% and 33.9%, respectively. The 2018 bonus gap, again excluding partners, is 55.3% (mean) and 30.8% (median).
However, Linklaters isn’t the first top City outfit to publish its ethnicity pay data. Fellow magic circler Allen & Overy published a partner inclusive mean of 21.6% and median of -26.8%. Addressing the gap and taking a similar line to Links, Allen & Overy’s report states:
“As the size of the two populations (BAME and non-BAME) differs so significantly, very small workforce composition changes can cause a large change to the overall mean and median ethnicity pay gap.”