2023 - 2024 Gender Pay Gap Employer Statement | PwC Australia

At PwC Australia, we have long been committed to fostering an inclusive environment and taking meaningful action that allows all our people to feel a sense of belonging at work. We understand the pivotal role businesses play in addressing gender inequality and acknowledge that proactive measures are needed to address the existing gender disparities in the labour market.

The gender pay gap serves as an indicator of the broad range of gendered experiences and outcomes across the employee lifecycle. It reflects the differences in average earnings between men and women and is influenced by factors such as representation in different roles, career progression opportunities and societal norms.

For the Workplace Gender Equality Agency (WGEA) 2023-24 reporting period (1 April 2023 to 31 March 2024), PwC Australia’s (mean) total remuneration gender pay gap was 7.0% and the median gender pay gap was 7.3%, which is significantly lower than the professional services industry mean gender pay gap of 14.8%. However, we acknowledge that our median gender pay gap has widened since the previous WGEA reporting period. This is in part largely due to organisational changes that took place, including the divestment of the firm's government business. This significant change in our workforce altered the demographic distribution of our employees, resulting in a higher representation of men in senior positions compared to last year.

To address PwC Australia’s gender pay gap, we are continuing to implement and action the following strategies:

• Ongoing monitoring, reporting and transparency for gender representation at all organisational levels, including promotion rates, experienced hires, succession planning and leadership of priority accounts. We know enhanced transparency promotes accountability and accelerates progress towards reducing our gender pay gap. 

• Continually assess and disrupt gender biases within all of our people policies and processes, ensuring we remove barriers to full and equal participation for all.

• Embedding and promoting gender neutral policies including our Together Anywhere (flexible work) and Domestic and Family Violence policy. Our Parental Leave policy promotes equitable parental leave uptake (this increased to a 51% uptake by men in FY24) and aims to reduce the friction between work and family life, normalise participation in caregiving across all genders, and foster a family-inclusive workplace.

• Mainstreaming flexible work and creating meaningful work opportunities outside the traditional full-time framework, including sustainable, fulfilling part-time roles.

• Integrating learning programs to build inclusive leadership capabilities and understanding of on the cultural drivers of workplace sexual harassment and the practical tools for effective bystander intervention to promote a safe and respectful workplace.

• Enabling equitable access to mentorship and sponsorship programs focused on professional development and career advancement.

• Continuing to support and champion our nine employee-led People Networks including, Symmetry, which aims to connect, inspire and empower all women of PwC through collaboration, education, advocacy and targeted stakeholder engagement.

• Being recognised as a WGEA ‘Employer of Choice for Gender Equality’ for 16 years, underscoring our commitment to eliminating barriers to women’s workforce participation and supporting their career development.

While we have made significant strides, we acknowledge there is more work to be done. Our firm’s Diversity & Inclusion Strategy is intersectional, enabling us to create equitable outcomes for our people no matter how they identify.

Our Management Leadership Team and Governance Board remain committed to supporting this work, and their involvement is critical to driving our initiatives and ensuring that we continue to put our people and values at the centre of everything we do.

At PwC, we are steadfast in our resolve to close the gender pay gap and build a more diverse, inclusive and prosperous future for all. 

Read our Transparency Report for more, which includes further details and metrics on all our key diversity and inclusion metrics: https://www.pwc.com.au/about-us/firmwide-transparency-report.html