PwC has announced it has signed up to the Treasury’s women in finance charter, which was launched earlier this year and requires financial services firms to commit to implement four key industry actions, in order to boost female representation at senior levels and encourage gender balance
Kevin Ellis, incoming chairman and senior partner at PwC, said: ‘We are proud to have signed the charter and support the focus and accountability it will bring to help change the gender balance in financial organisations. We are committed to equality in the workplace and see diversity as a business imperative – it leads to better business decisions and creates an environment where everyone can reach their full potential.’
The four pledges to promote gender diversity included in the charter are having one member of the senior executive team who is responsible and accountable for gender diversity and inclusion; setting internal targets for gender diversity in senior management; publishing progress annually against these targets in reports on the company’s website; and having an intention to ensure the pay of the senior executive team is linked to delivery against these internal targets on gender diversity.
PwC said it had been one of the first firms to publicly report its gender pay gap, while it also sets and publishes gender and ethnicity targets. The firm has a number of programmes to support greater equality, including a ‘back to business’ programme, female sponsorship programme, reverse mentoring and ‘open mind’ unconscious bias training for all staff.
According to Accountancy’s latest league table, PwC had 885 partners in 2015, of whom 150 are female, up from 145 women partners out of 854 the year before.
The firm’s own annual report for 2015 makes the point that PwC’s gender pay gap, at 15.3%, is four points lower than the national average (19.1%).
However, in the latest round of partner promotions, its largest cohort ever, PwC failed to meet its own target of 30% female partner promotes. Of the record number of 61 new partners announced earlier in June, 28% were women, up from 23% the previous year.
The firm says the number of future female leaders coming through the business is strong, as 40% of the newly promoted directors are female, up from 30% last year. PwC says it now has 174 female equity partners, more than any other professional services firm.
Details of the Treasury’s women in finance charter are here.
