“That is why we have been providing more information as part of our annual results reporting and why we have been more transparent with our people at year-end about pay bands and where they sit in relation to their peers.”
“In our experience transparency also helps drive more equitable outcomes and is an important factor in addressing challenges like gender pay equity.”
The disclosure of the pay rates at two divisions follows PwC, Accenture and KPMG providing their pay rates to The Australian Financial Review. Accenture provided rates for its consultants, while PwC and KPMG provided rates for the major divisions at the firm.
EY has declined to provide any pay data but has made limited pay disclosures to staff about pay rates confined to their specific geography and business.
These advisory firms are all battling each other, and clients, to hire the same type of staff amid a global skills shortage.
Deloitte had developed its pay and benefits package based on regular market research, Mr Powick said.
“We regularly monitor market pay information through the year and conduct a formal annual review of a number of diverse benchmarking data sets to ensure that our salaries remain competitive with the market,” he said.
“We also benchmark other benefit areas such as leave, flexibility and training with the view of being a market leader in these domains.”
Deloitte’s lead human capital partner, Pip Dexter, said the firm wanted to support staff on their “career journey”.
“For us this includes financial reward, access to funded training and development, opportunities for accelerated career progression, market-leading leave and flexibility options, and support during different life stages,” Ms Dexter said.
“In FY22 we also made a decision to share above-plan profits with our people and that is an additional component of our total reward package that we intend to continue.”
The staff pay rates between the four firms are difficult to directly compare, and vary by typical experience.
In consulting, the minimum pay for a Deloitte senior consultant of $100,000 is on par with an Accenture team lead/consultant. The minimum pay for a Deloitte director of $190,000 is above PwC (from $184,800) and below KPMG (from $200,000).
Experts agree that pay transparency helps close the gender pay gap and have called on advisory firms, along with private sector companies, to reveal details about staff pay.
Deloitte’s overall gender pay gap was 12.6 per cent at the end of last year. The gap differed by division, with a 2.2 per cent gap in assurance and advisory and a 15.9 per cent gap in consulting.
The firm is working to close this gap via a range of policies including providing secondary carer’s leave and ensuring there are “gender-balanced” shortlists at each stage of the recruitment process.