There has been a step change over the past decade with UK Listed company boards becoming more diverse than ever before, primarily as a result of the Hampton Alexander review and more recently the Parker review.
New research published by the FRC in conjunction with London Business School, Leadership Institute and SQW found that the effort to diversify boards pays benefits in terms of boardroom culture and performance. To maximise these benefits boards should recognise that change takes time and that diversity without active inclusion is unlikely to encourage new talent to the board.
The main findings of the research concluded that:
- It is the responsibility of the Chair of a board to drive inclusion.
- Regulators and companies must focus on collecting more data on the types of diversity, board dynamics and social inclusion.
- The Nomination Committee itself should be diverse and have a clear mandate to work with search firms that access talent from wide and diverse pools.
- The greater representation of women in the boardroom is reshaping culture and dynamics and benefiting businesses from a social justice as well as a performance perspective
To read the research report Board Diversity & Effectivness in FTSE 350 Companies click here.