Maddocks Gender Pay Gap Statement
CEO Statement
At Maddocks, we place great value on diversity and inclusion. It is central to our firm’s strategy, and supports our people to feel respected, valued and safe. We all contribute to building and maintaining a culture of respect and empowerment, and it is our strong commitment and focus on gender equality over many years that has seen us continue to improve across a range of metrics including gender composition in leadership and our gender pay gap.
We are proud of the substantial reduction in our median total remuneration gender pay gap in FY2022-23, and while we are pleased with our progress, we acknowledge that to continue driving positive outcomes requires a constant focus and leadership commitment.
We recognise that there are many factors and complexities behind the gender pay gap including entrenched societal and organisational dynamics. We also acknowledge that particular historic gender composition issues have become embedded within the Australian legal profession. Taking the time and effort to better understand these barriers to equality allows us to address the obstacles that remain in reducing the gender pay gap.
Compensating our people equitably for their experience, contributions and skills is also key. Ensuring both women and men are progressing in their careers, tracking men’s use of flexible working and parental leave, and conducting ongoing training on workplace obligations regarding sexual harassment and bullying are also part of our measures to drive positive change at Maddocks.
One of our guiding principles to setting and reviewing our remuneration and rewards is to ensure gender pay equity by undertaking pay equity analysis during each step of the salary review process, and to develop strategies to address any disparities.
We are committed to continuing to close the gender pay gap at Maddocks, and working towards better understanding and rectifying the obstacles that remain. Our efforts, through remuneration reviews, ongoing analysis and our other initiatives, have seen us improve our gender pay gap, ahead of the national average for the professional services industry.
We welcome this opportunity to provide greater details on the work we have been doing to drive further change and progress on gender pay, and in turn gender equality, in Australia.
We are committed to driving tangible results at Maddocks that will not only benefit our people, but the wider legal sector and broader community in the years ahead.
David Newman
CEO
Maddocks Gender Composition
Our gender pay gap over time
| All employees | 2020-21 | 2021-22 | 2022-23 |
| Median total remuneration | 14.5% | 17.9% | 8.0% |
| Median base salary | 15.5% | 16.5% | 8.9% |
Our gender pay gap industry comparison
The reduction of the gender pay gap at Maddocks has meant it is now less than half for that of the wider legal services industry. Our median total remuneration gender pay gap is 8.0% while the Industry Comparison Group sits at 17.1%, according to WGEA’s Benchmarking Report.
| Maddocks | Industry Comparison | |
| Median total remuneration | 8.0% | 17.1% |
| Median base salary | 8.9% | 18.3% |
Our gender composition by pay quartile:
Upper quartile
Upper middle quartile
Lower middle quartile
Lower quartile
Our gender pay gap drivers
Two key factors drive the gender pay gap at Maddocks. The first is the gender segregation in our legal secretarial, law clerk and paralegal roles. This cohort makes up almost 20% of our workforce and 93% of people working in these positions are female.
It is important to note, this trend is an industry-wide phenomenon. Historically, legal secretarial roles have been occupied by females, reinforcing the stereotype that there is something about the work and the roles that are inherently feminine. There remains a high percentage of females in these roles at Maddocks, in the legal industry and in the market as candidates. We are committed to working on challenging the societal biases that exist towards males fulfilling these and any other administrative positions.
The second factor involves the higher number of senior male partners who are stepping away from partnership and still want to make a valuable contribution to the firm as a consultant or special counsel.
Despite these transition roles being temporary and of a short duration, the gender composition at these levels has an impact on the gender pay gap.
Our actions and strategies
To date, the median total remuneration gender pay gap at Maddocks has reduced from 14.5% to 8.0% since 2020-2021. This has been largely driven by three key strategic decisions taken by the firm as a way to address pay inequities and bring greater transparency to our reward model for all employees.
In 2019, a new remuneration strategy was implemented to support the attraction and retention of legal and support staff at the firm. By 2022 a new approach to remuneration and reward for our people was delivered, including the establishment of a remuneration steering committee.
Our remuneration strategy includes a set of guiding principles that are unique to Maddocks and reflect our firm strategy and culture. One of the principles is to ensure gender pay equity by undertaking pay equity analysis during each step of the salary review process and developing strategies to address any inequities.
Through our involvement in the Workplace Gender Equality Agency’s Employer of Choice for Gender Equality program, Maddocks has made much progress on gender pay equity including:
- We have set targets to reduce our gender pay gap
- We review the starting salaries of new staff members to ensure that gender bias does not occur at the hiring stage, ensuring gender pay gaps do not become embedded before a person has commenced at the firm
- We analyse the performance ratings of staff members to ensure gender bias does not occur
- We pay superannuation on the unpaid component of paid parental leave up to 52 weeks
- We have committed to a 40/40/20 strategy where at least 40% of our partners and leadership team are female
- We seek to ensure we have market leading policies regarding parental leave and flexible work
- We provide a Gender Equality Update Report, including analysis of the gender pay gap, to the firm’s Board on an annual basis.
Each year we build more knowledge, expertise and sophistication in our approach to analysing the gender pay gap. Over the past two years we have taken intentional steps at the beginning and throughout the remuneration review process to analyse any gender pay gaps and understand why they may be occurring. Strategies to address any gaps are discussed with partners and leaders.
In addition to respecting the individual and diversity, one of our core values at Maddocks is a commitment to doing things better through excellence, collaboration and innovation. Closing the gender pay gap isn't just about numbers – it is about creating a culture where our focus on diversity, equity, and inclusion extends to every aspect of our firm. We are committed to creating a workplace where everyone has an equal opportunity to develop and thrive.