Tennent Brown Architects is a small business going big to navigate its gender pay gap.
Tennent Brown Architects has a mighty goal.
To focus on closing its gender pay gap.
But the organisation says it faces unique challenges as a small to medium enterprise (SME), compared to bigger businesses.
The small business has around 15 employees. Its gender pay gap is 20 percent.
“I've got a diversity team, but I like to think that the whole office is the diversity team,” says Ewan Brown, one of the company’s two directors.
Ewan Brown
Ewan meets with us in the company’s central Wellington offices.
“It is absolutely wrong that females have to fight for things to be just.”
“I try and do the best I can in my environment and continually check myself. And I hope that everybody else, like the other SMEs, the other small architectural companies, do the same,” he says.
Ewan says “every day [I’ve] got my head down working away. I'm trying to keep across the stats. The stats are not the driver, but you've got to have them in your mind all the time.”
He talks about challenges for his organisation, as a SME.
“One thing I have learnt is that the smaller you are, it makes it really, really hard because one person coming or going makes a massive difference to your stats.”
Ewan says that if a female colleague leaves and he recruits a man, his gender pay gap increases significantly.
So, he’s intentional with who he hires knowing his gender pay gap statistics can change.
Ewan says finding time as a SME can be difficult – he runs the HR processes on top of his main role.
“It's hard with SMEs because they've got so many demands and so little time. For instance, I do all the HR in the office here…I still have to do my job.”
The challenge continues for Tennent Brown Architects, as it continues its gender pay gap journey.
For Ewan Brown, this means focusing on his small and well-formed team with care.
“I've got my stats and every year I'm comparing them with last year’s. I'm more interested in that, comparing and competing with myself.”
Tennent Brown Architects is striving to lift more women up, through its business succession planning.
Ewan Brown’s message to other businesses: “Start measuring.”
Visit the guidance for small and medium-sized businesses to find a guide for small and medium-sized businesses wanting to measure, understand and close their gender pay gap.