In acknowledgement of International Women’s Day on 8th March 2020, here at View HR we have been looking into recent reports on the topic of diversity on boards. According to a recent BBC report, women currently hold a third of board roles at FTSE 100 firms, an increase from just 12% in 2011. Does this increase mean that the question of diversity on boards has been fully resolved? Arguably not, as these figures only look at the ratio of male and female board members, without considering other under-represented groups such as people from different ethnic backgrounds. Also, FTSE 100 companies are not automatically representative of other businesses: the BBC report, for example, claims that for FTSE 250 companies, women only represent 22% of board members.
Yet how more diverse boards can be realised can be a controversial question. In France a quota system is used, which can result in questions about whether or not the best candidate was selected for the job, or just to hit a target. This risks being demoralising for both any unsuccessful applicants who may believe that they were not selected on account of being male, and the successful applicant who may wonder if their contribution is really valued, or if they are just there to make up the numbers. In the UK, Government encourages firms to take action without the use of specific legislation or fines.
What then can employers do to ensure that they have a diverse board? One way of addressing this is not to look at the board itself, but to look at the rest of the organisation, and ask questions such as:
- Do you have a Flexible Working Policy? Are all requests considered fairly and in-line with business needs, rather than based on old assumptions like “that job has always been full-time”?
- Do you have a Shared Parental Leave Policy, and are staff aware of it?
- Do you ensure that training is accessible to all without inadvertently excluding some, such as people unable to stay away for the night due to childcare responsibilities, part-time employees, or people with physical or learning disabilities?
- Do you regularly ask all staff about their future career prospects as part of your performance management processes?
- Do you support and encourage staff to develop their senior leadership skills when they are not at work, e.g. through a trustee or non-executive role?
These are just some of the things that businesses can do, but if you are confident in these areas then this may indicate that you take diversity seriously in your organisation, and are working to provide your staff with opportunities to succeed and develop, regardless of any protected characteristics. Will this change the makeup of your board overnight? Unlikely. However, it will mean that you are more likely to have a diverse group of staff who will feel able to aspire towards future board membership. And don’t forget to apply these measures to your actual board too – don’t create a double standard of “Board members are too important to do flexible working”! These suggestions don’t just apply to larger organisations; smaller businesses can plan for the future by considering them too.
If you would like to review the actions you are taking or intend to take to improve diversity within your organisation, please contact View HR to discuss. Our Consultants are experienced in supporting diversity in the workplace and sitting at board level.