Diversity pay gap statement 2023

We have continued our progress to reduce both our mean and median gender pay gaps. Our mean and median gender bonus gaps have also reduced substantially since last year.

Whilst we are pleased that our gender pay gaps are narrowing, we remain focused on improving the rate of progress we’re making. Our progress can be attributed to a decrease in women in our lower pay quartiles and an increase in women in the upper median and upper pay quartiles since last year. This year we have also seen women at RSM receiving proportionally more bonuses than men.

We recognise that to continue to reduce our gender gaps we need to increase female representation in our senior positions. We are looking closely at our progression programmes to ensure we continue to support our female colleagues. We are happy to see the results of our efforts paying off. This year we have more women coming into the firm as managers and directors. This, along with our ‘grow our own’ strategy is helping us to build a strong pipeline of female talent. As our women continue to progress in their careers, we will see a positive impact on our gender balance in senior leadership roles across the firm.

The pay gap explained

The pay gap is different to equal pay.

A gender and ethnicity pay gap is a measure of the difference between the average pay rates for men and women, and for ethnic minority and non-ethnic minority employees.

Our methodology

We are required to report our gender pay gap data for each separate legal entity that has at least 250 employees. We have therefore reported data for RSM UK Tax and Accounting Ltd and RSM UK Management Ltd. It’s important that we consider all our people, so figures in this report combine the data of both entities.

In addition to our employee pay gaps, we voluntarily report our partner pay gaps.

Current statutory pay gap calculations require us to exclude undisclosed ethnicities and declarations of gender identity that are not binary, ie it includes only ‘men’ and ‘women’. Therefore, while we recognise and celebrate colleagues of all gender identities at RSM, we have had to exclude the following:

• 13.0% for non-disclosure of ethnicity
• 1.4% of employees because of their non-binary or undisclosed gender identity

Calculating the mean

We add up the rates of pay of all men, and the rates of pay of all women, and then divide these figures by the total number in each group. We then report the percentage difference between these two figures as our mean gender pay gap.

We repeat this process for ethnic minority employees and non-ethnic minority employees and report the percentage difference as our mean ethnicity pay gap. The same methodology is applied in this report to show the difference between Black, Asian, Mixed heritage and Other ethnic minority employees and all White employees.

Calculating the median

We list rates of pay for every man and every woman, and we report the middle point of each list as the median. We then report the percentage difference between these two figures as our median gender pay gap. We repeat this process for ethnic minority employees and non-ethnic minority employees, and for each specific ethnic group, and report the percentage difference as our median ethnicity pay gap. Our bonus mean and median pay gaps are calculated the same way.

Our ethnicity pay gaps have continued to widen, whilst bonus gaps have narrowed. 

We have seen an increase in our ethnicity pay gaps this year. 

This result has been driven by the continued increase (6.9% since 2009) of the ethnic diversity of our firm. This increase, although positive, impacts our pay gap results. 

Representation of ethnically diverse colleagues has increased at all levels this year. However, junior roles, where salaries and bonuses are lower, continue to have the greatest representation of ethnically diverse talent. This is due in part to the positive changes we have made to our early careers recruitment processes in recent years as well as the demographic changes in the early careers market. Leading to the increased diversity of our trainee intake year on year. 

We recognise that as our ethnically diverse trainees progress their careers at RSM we must work to retain them. This will support the reduction of our pay and bonus gaps going forward. 

We know it will take time, but we are certain that it is the best way to make meaningful and sustainable progress. Along with this strategy, we are working to increase the opportunity for proportionally diverse representation in senior level positions through promotions, hiring, and retention efforts.

The pay gap explained

The pay gap is different to equal pay.

A gender and ethnicity pay gap is a measure of the difference between the average pay rates for men and women, and for ethnic minority and non-ethnic minority employees.

Our methodology

We are required to report our gender pay gap data for each separate legal entity that has at least 250 employees. We have therefore reported data for RSM UK Tax and Accounting Ltd and RSM UK Management Ltd. It’s important that we consider all our people, so figures in this report combine the data of both entities.

In addition to our employee pay gaps, we voluntarily report our partner pay gaps.

Current statutory pay gap calculations require us to exclude undisclosed ethnicities and declarations of gender identity that are not binary, ie it includes only ‘men’ and ‘women’. Therefore, while we recognise and celebrate colleagues of all gender identities at RSM, we have had to exclude the following:

• 13.0% for non-disclosure of ethnicity
• 1.4% of employees because of their non-binary or undisclosed gender identity

Calculating the mean

We add up the rates of pay of all men, and the rates of pay of all women, and then divide these figures by the total number in each group. We then report the percentage difference between these two figures as our mean gender pay gap.

We repeat this process for ethnic minority employees and non-ethnic minority employees and report the percentage difference as our mean ethnicity pay gap. The same methodology is applied in this report to show the difference between Black, Asian, Mixed heritage and Other ethnic minority employees and all White employees.

Calculating the median

We list rates of pay for every man and every woman, and we report the middle point of each list as the median. We then report the percentage difference between these two figures as our median gender pay gap. We repeat this process for ethnic minority employees and non-ethnic minority employees, and for each specific ethnic group, and report the percentage difference as our median ethnicity pay gap. Our bonus mean and median pay gaps are calculated the same way.

We are pleased to see that both our partner mean and median gender pay gaps have decreased. Our partner gender bonus gaps have also reduced and continue to reflect a pay gap in favour of women.