Cushman & Wakefield has announced three significant milestones in relation to its commitment to diversity and inclusion (D&I) – a reduced gender pay gap, its first ethnicity pay gap and newly awarded National Equality Standard accreditation (NES) status.
George Roberts, Head of UK & Ireland at Cushman & Wakefield, said: “I am incredibly proud of the progress we have made in recent years, from the grassroots to the board table, to make our firm a more diverse and inclusive place to work. These D&I milestones are a really positive driver of change in our organisation and act as a foundation for further improvement.”
Cushman & Wakefield’s mean gender pay gap for 2019 is 31.1%, down from 35.8% in 2018. This reduction has been achieved through a combination of initiatives that have led to more women progressing into senior roles. Last year Cushman & Wakefield had a 17% increase in women at Partner and Associate level and a 40% increase at International Partner level.
Roberts said: “Reducing the overall gender pay gap will take time – and it may not always be a linear path – but we are proud of the steps we have taken to help address the imbalance in the proportions of women in the lower pay quartile and the highest pay quartiles. This imbalance remains the primary cause of our gender pay gap and we will continue striving to reduce it further.”
In recognition that the real estate industry also lags behind when it comes to ethnic diversity, Cushman & Wakefield has voluntarily published its mean ethnicity pay gap for the first time, which is 25.4%. The calculation is based on the 64% of UK colleagues that have voluntarily declared their ethnicity.
Karen Clements, Chair of Inspire, Cushman & Wakefield’s UK Diversity & Inclusion programme, added: “Ethnicity plays such an important role in diversity and by announcing our ethnicity pay gap we hope to help ignite meaningful action to redress this imbalance in our industry, as well as setting a benchmark for improvement ourselves.”
Cushman & Wakefield’s work and commitment to create an equal, inclusive and diverse culture in its UK business has been independently recognised by being awarded NES accreditation. Created by EY, this rigorous standard sets equality, diversity and inclusion criteria against which firms benchmark themselves.
Charles Lebeter, Head of HR UK & Ireland at Cushman & Wakefield said: ‘In going through NES accreditation we have challenged the way we do things, the resource and support we provide colleagues and the way our leaders behave, to ensure we make Cushman & Wakefield a culture in which everyone feels included and can thrive.
“We have come a long way and have achieved demonstrable change through this rigorous process that really benefits our culture and all colleagues who work at Cushman & Wakefield. Having an objective benchmark like NES to point towards is proof of that statement. I’m very proud of everyone who worked so hard to deliver this great achievement.”
Some of the standout D&I activities that were highlighted in the Cushman & Wakefield’s NES assessment include the launch of:
- An enhanced paternity policy ‘3+3’, which trebled paid paternity leave to six weeks.
- Making more data fields active on its internal people platform, Workday, to increase options for sexual orientation, ethnicity and gender.
- Enhanced mental health and wellbeing activities and initiatives including Mental Health First Aider training for employees, the identification of Mental Health Champions and signing the Time to Change Employer Pledge.