International law firm CMS has been listed as one of The Times Top 50 Employers for Women 2022 for taking action to decrease gender inequality in the workplace.
The Times Top 50 Employers for Women is the UK’s most highly profiled and well-established listing of employers striving for gender equality in the workplace. Run by Business in the Community (BITC) - The Prince’s Responsible Business Network, and The Times for more than a decade, the incredibly competitive process identifies companies which make gender equality part of the way they do business, working to embed it at all levels.
This year’s applicants were closely assessed on the work they do to remove the drivers that enforce gender inequality, from flexible working and family-friendly policies to pay, reward and progression. This year BITC included further assessment to include the lived experience of women employees by asking what areas they feel need to be improved.
Katy Neep, Gender Equality Campaign Director at Business in the Community, said:
“This year’s application process was the most competitive one we have ever seen. Employers like CMS haven’t lifted their foot off the pedal when it comes to supporting women at work and they are a strong example of what commitment to making gender inequality a thing of the past looks like.”
CMS is committed to putting gender equality at the centre of its business. Among its many incentives and programmes, the firm offers:
- A fully hybrid work environment, empowering its people to choose how they work.
- A generous and supportive package for mothers, fathers, partners and adopters including enhanced pay, greater flexibility and the ability to take extended leave. Coaching support in the run-up to leave and in returning to work is also provided, and in monitoring performance the firm makes specific allowance for the periods immediately before and after leave.
- A menopause policy to support those experiencing menopause and those supporting them.
- A carers policy and paid carers leave of up to five days. CMS’s Carers Passport scheme helps carers speak to their line managers about their role as carers, articulate the challenges they face, and agree how they can best be supported. CMS are also members of Carers UK, which provides resources and support to carers in the workplace as well as their managers.
- CMS partners with My Family Care to provide a wide range of in-person and digital products to help its employees manage their work and family challenges, such as back-up child-care and elder-care, education, advice and guidance.
- A clear development pathway. The firm appraises against technical ability and defined behaviours which are rooted in its core values.
- A Senior Associate development scheme which ensures the firm has a strong representation of diverse candidates in the pipeline of Senior Associates progressing to partnership. When considering Partner candidates, the firm ensures that there is diverse and balanced representation on the interviewing panel.
- A reverse mentoring initiative focusing on ethnicity, with Board members being reverse mentored by ethnic minority colleagues.
- A secretarial apprenticeship programme enabling the firm’s secretarial population to gain a recognised qualification.
- Mentoring at all levels to support talent development.
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