Inclusion
Diversity
Why this matters
As a sector the legal profession still has much to do to address the lack of diversity, be that gender, race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, disability or socioeconomic background. We know that by introducing new experiences and viewpoints to the firm, we can gain new perspectives, enhance teamworking and create extraordinary results for our business.
We also need to look after the health and wellbeing of our people, recognising the pressures of workload and life. We are building a caring culture in which we look out for each other.
Our ambition
Gender balance
Achieving greater representation of women in the partnership and better gender balance in leadership roles.
Race and ethnicity
Increasing the representation of colleagues from ethnically diverse backgrounds across the firm and celebrating the diversity of all cultures and religions.
LGBTQ+
Providing an accepting work environment where people of all sexual orientations and gender identities can be authentic.
Social mobility
Creating opportunities for people from a wider range of socioeconomic backgrounds to access and flourish within the legal sector.
Wellbeing and disability
Promoting good mental and physical wellbeing, raising awareness of visible and invisible disabilities, and creating an accessible, safe and healthy workplace.
Our Inclusion Board has supported the delivery of progress and change in our priority areas through our six inclusion networks:
Balance in Business network
Cultural Diversity network
equaliTW network
Family Matters network
Social Mobility network
Wellbeing network
Our progress this year
Partnership - 30% women - up 2% from the previous year
UK Board - 35% women - up 2% from the previous year
Trainee cohort diversity - 45% from historically underrepresented ethnic groups
Over 100 young people
Over 100 young people were impacted by our social mobility initiatives and outreach in the last year and 100% of students reported that activities helped them develop their employability skills.
Further improved diversity in partnership and leadership roles
of our partnership
of our UK board
of those in leadership roles
are now women.
Reducing the gender pay and bonus gaps
Our mean and median employee gender pay gaps are 6.6% and 17.9% respectively – an improvement of 4.5% and 8.3%, which remains lower than the national average of 14.9%.
We saw a further reduction of 7.8% in the bonus gap to 26.2% and continued to pay proportionally more bonuses to women than men with 79.1% of women receiving a bonus compared to 76.4% of men.
Supporting women as they progress through their careers to leadership positions with our coaching programme
Achieving Mansfield UK certification and external commendations
We have successfully achieved Mansfield Rule UK Certification Plus status for the past two years. The standard ensures law firms track and measure representation and positive action to diversify the most senior tiers of leadership. Our Liverpool office was highly commended in the inaugural Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Award category at the Liverpool Law Society's Legal Awards.
Creating more connections across the LGBTQ+ community
Our partnership with myGwork continued to thrive this year, and we supported various campaigns including WorkPride, WorkFair, Black History Month, LGBTQ+ parenting and World AIDS Day. We also worked with myGwork to provide interactive and fun learning experiences for our people through LGBTQ+ history quizzes, hosted by Laïla El-Métoui.
Supporting the LGBTQ+ Community Centre
The equaliTW network is proud to be a corporate partner of the London LGBTQ+ Community Centre, which provides a safe, accessible, and sober space for the local community. In February 2023, we had the delight to host the first official fundraiser for the centre. The event was a fantastic success, with a powerhouse of patrons, trustees and over 60 guests in attendance, including our friends from myGwork, the National Portrait Gallery and OpenWealth. Together, we helped to raise over £12,500 for the centre to support the vital work they do for the LGBTQ+ community.
We are extremely thankful to the team at Taylor Wessing for all the support we have received since we opened our doors. From your financial contributions, to opening your doors to us to host our very first fundraising event in 2023, collaborating with TW has been transformational. We hope we can grow this partnership as years go by and we both can continue benefiting from it. Thank you!
London LGBTQ+ Community Centre
Supporting MindOut
MindOut is one of our newest relationships. They improve the mental health and wellbeing of all LGBTQ+ communities and make mental health a community concern. We’re deeply proud of our reputation as an inclusive workplace for our LGBTQ+ colleagues and MindOut supports our priorities of looking after the health and wellbeing of our people, and celebrating diversity in all forms, creating an environment where everyone can thrive.
We are so grateful to the wonderful team at Taylor Wessing for their ongoing support to MindOut, and their generous donation of £2000 to kickstart our winter appeal. The demand for our life-saving services increases considerably in the lead up to the festive period, and this can be a particularly difficult time for LGBTQ people with additional challenges and managing mental health. Many mainstream support services close, friends, family and colleagues go home for Christmas, and this can mean a really isolating and lonely period for some of our service users. Your donation means that we can provide online group sessions for LGBTQ communities across the UK on key dates, and throughout the festive period.
By providing a safe space to talk, we can offer practical and emotional support, crisis, and suicide prevention services when we're needed the most. Thank you so much to everyone at Taylor Wessing, and wishing all a safe, festive holiday.
Fundraising Team, MindOut
Next year's focus
Gender balance and race and ethnicity continue to be strategic priorities, reporting into the UK Executive Board, in the coming year. We will focus on increasing representation, breaking down barriers to career progression and enhancing the employee experiences of our people.
We are also maintaining a focus on educating our people and continuing the evolution of our systems and processes to provide a safe and accessible working environment for those impacted by social mobility, disability, LGBTQ+ identities and caring responsibilities.