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Women on Boards new research uncovers a very limited range of skills and expertise among executive board directors across over 1,000 companies in the FTSE All-Share and AIM listings, which calls into question the diversity of thought in the boardroom.
Just 2% of executive directors hold positions other than CEO, CFO and Company Secretary. There is a further concentration in that small minority on COO or CTO roles, focused on operational efficiency.
Fiona Hathorn, CEO and co-founder of Women on Boards says,
“The responsibilities of the board have continued to evolve over the past decade and yet the focus remains on traditional skill sets such as finance, operations and CEO experience. Skills such as social responsibility, human resources or marketing, show negligible presence in the boardroom.”
Women on Boards also take a deep-dive into how boards are tackling People and Culture concerns.
Over 80% of Women on Boards members surveyed believe it is a top-level or significant concern, but only 27% are directly engaging with executive experts at board level and 40% consider the quality of discussion on People and Culture in their boardroom to be weaker than on other topics. This suggests boards need to re-think how they tackle, what is, one of the most pressing issues facing organisations today.
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