UK companies with 250 or more employees are legally required to calculate and report their gender pay gap figures and this is the sixth year of mandatory reporting. Our data covers all UK employees of McKinsey & Company, including Partners and Senior Partners.
The gender pay gap is the difference in the average hourly wage of all men and women across a workforce. It is not the same as unequal pay (paying men and women differently for performing the same work). Within our firm, men and women with the same performance and experience in equivalent roles are paid equally.
This year, we have updated our methodology for calculating our gender pay gap. We previously took actual hours worked into account when calculating our figures. The emerging standard approach taken by organisations is to base gender pay gap calculations on contractual hours. We have therefore updated all of our reported figures using contractual hours.
2022 figures
Our mean (average) hourly pay gap is 32.2%, which is lower than 2021 by 0.9% (the updated figure for 2021 is 33.1%). Women representation has gone up slightly in most senior grades, and analysis suggests that the decrease in the mean pay gap has been largely driven by promotions, as well as male leavers and women returning from leave.
Proportion of employees who received bonus pay:
Male 89.3%
Female 89.8%
2022 pay quartiles
| Quartile | Male | Female |
| Upper | 72.4% | 27.6% |
| Upper middle | 54.2% | 45.8% |
| Lower middle | 46.2% | 53.8% |
| Lower | 34.1% | 65.9% |
Looking ahead
Although we are pleased to see the reduction in our mean pay gap, we know we have more work to do. Closing the gap takes time and achieving gender parity remains a top priority. Our research has consistently demonstrated the performance benefits of a diverse workforce. We know that being open to different perspectives helps us to better understand and support our clients, innovate, and manage risk.
A core part of our approach is parity in recruiting. Just over half of our recruits into the UK office in 2022 were women, reflecting our ongoing commitment to attract new talented women to the firm.
We also remain fully committed to developing and retaining talented women. Based on our own data, we seek to support women at every step of their career journey – particularly at key inflection points. We are working to scale the programmes and initiatives that have proven successful and are also innovating new approaches.
In the last year, we enhanced support for new parents, including our programme to enable colleagues to successfully transition back to work after parental leave. We launched an initiative to raise awareness of perimenopause and menopause support in the workplace. And through our affinity networks and communities we are exploring intersectional identities and experiences as we seek to enable every member of our diverse community of women to thrive.
McKinsey UK’s Gender Pay Gap reported figures (using updated methodology)
I confirm the data reported is accurate.
Michael Edwards
(Director of People, UK, Ireland and Israel)
