Performance exceeds expectations for first half of financial year
Osborne Clarke has announced it will pay back the solicitor salary cuts it made earlier this year after performance exceeded expectations in the first half of the financial year.
The firm had taken the “unfortunate but prudent decision” to cut staff pay by 7% for a 11-month period starting in June. The pay reduction applied to employees earning more than £30,000, although the firm said that if it met its new financial target for 2020-21, it would repay employees back.
“Following a better than expected H1 [first half], we’re pleased to announce we will be paying back the 7% salary reduction we introduced in June,” a spokesperson for the firm said. “It will cover five months (the period of June to October) and will be repaid in December.”
The spokesperson added that the firm will review the pay reduction again in the third quarter of the financial year and, if the figures allow, it will repay the balance and stop deductions going forward. “We will also make a flat-rate payment to every eligible employee in December as a thank you for their efforts,” the spokesperson said.
Osborne Clarke said it has decided to wait to address partner drawings until staff salary reductions are fully repaid, though targets are in place and it hopes to be in a position to advise on monthly and quarterly special draws early next year.
The firm also confirmed performance bonuses for 2019/20 have been deferred to July 2021 and, at that time, it will look back over the last two financial years to reward exceptional contributions that were made.
Osborne Clarke announced last month it had brought back 116 furloughed members of staff, including business support staff and paralegals, in August, and repaid government funds it received as part of the furlough scheme. Ray Berg, managing partner, said at the time that the firm’s half-year results had held up “better than we had initially feared”.