JLL has become the first of the agents to report on its gender pay gap.
Across JLL’s UK businesses there was a mean gender pay gap of 36.7%. This figure rose to 78.9% when based purely on bonuses.
Among those working for JLL, the top quartile earners were almost 75% male, while 43.2% of the lower quartile were female.
The firm’s main surveying subsidiary painted a much bleaker picture, with a pay and bonus pay gap of 57.8% and a bonus only gap of 84.4%.
Just 18.4% of women were in the top quartile when it came to pay and almost 61% were in the lowest quartile.
JLL said the reason for the gap was that there were fewer women in senior leadership positions, with just one in five of its most senior positions held by women.
However, the firm said ratios were improving, with the number of women in JLL’s top positions increasing by around one-third over the past two years.
UK chief executive Chris Ireland said that the firm had worked hard to make sure that its entry level intake was now around 50:50 male/female, but recognised that levelling the playing field higher up was harder work.
It now requires internal and external recruiters to deliver balanced shortlists of potential employees and is working on making it easier for employees to come back to JLL after a career break.
This includes encouraging flexible working, staged comebacks and shared parental leave.
Delivering balance
Take-up of shared parental leave has been low in real estate.
At JLL, just one person took the opportunity in its first year, three the following year and six in the third year.
Ireland said that UK chief operating officer Richard Howling was acting as a senior role model for shared parental leave, having taken the option himself.
“It is good that we have to report [on the gender pay gap] as it highlights the issue and gives us an added focus to make sure that we are doing everything we can to do something about it,” said Ireland.
“Within the real estate industry we still have a lot to do, but we are focussed on making a difference. We want to be open and transparent and make sure that we are doing all that we can to close the gap.”
He said the agent had already started to close the gap, reducing the difference between male and female pay by 8% over the past three years.
We have made good progress but we will not rest until our business reflects the society in which we operate.” – JLL HR director Virginia Rothwell
“While we have some way to go before we are the gender balanced organisation we want to be, we are working hard to achieve this,” said JLL HR director Virginia Rothwell.
“We have long been committed to equal pay and our gender pay gap is more a function of the past make-up of the property industry than an indication of the future.
“Historically, it has been very male-dominated and as a result men have held the vast majority of the most senior jobs. To address this, we believe we must increase the representation of women in our senior roles.
“We have made good progress but we will not rest until our business reflects the society in which we operate.”
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