FDM Group, a leading global business and technology consultancy, has achieved a mean gender pay gap of -2.5%, fuelled by the success of gender equality initiatives including its Returners Programme. Last year, ONS reported a median gender pay gap of 7.7% across the UK.  

Women traditionally represent about 25% of the workforce, yet 33% of FDM Group’s global workforce is female, up from 31% last year. Their Returners Programme and key initiatives like ‘She Lives Tech’ and ‘Girls Into Tech’ are making great progress in promoting gender diversity in the tech industry.  

FDM Group is focused on creating net new talent, staff retention, and advanced career progression opportunities by upskilling the workforce through FDM Group’s Skills Lab.   

The FDM Returners Programme has been instrumental in helping close the gender pay gap by hiring more women into senior roles. The programme has helped over 550 people return to work since its inception in 2015.  

To ensure all applicants receive fair and equal consideration regardless of their background, the company has made it compulsory for all interviewers to complete mandatory training on key inclusivity topics, such as objective note-taking, unconscious bias, different ability awareness and how to support the progression of young talent.  

FDM also delivers regular female-only boot camps for students considering jobs in tech. The interactive sessions range from hackathons to coding workshops and provide an opportunity for team-based project work, networking and presenting to senior stakeholders.  

Sheila Flavell CBE, COO of FDM Group said: “We were one of the first UK organisations to publish our gender pay gap report when mandatory reporting was introduced in 2017. Tech is a hugely rewarding sector at the forefront of the UK and women have so much to offer, especially as areas such as AI continue to evolve. We aim to actively help close the gender pay gap and provide career opportunities that empower more women to join this exciting industry.”