REC Association of Executive Recruiters roundtable

We were delighted to be part of the recent REC Association of Executive Recruiters round-table.

In particular the agenda covering a legal update, diversity in executive management and looking at business growth provided for an interesting and stimulating session.

John Sharman, Equality & Human Rights Commission updated on his recent inquiry into fairness, transparency and diversity in FTSE 350 board appointments.  He shared his executive summary and findings on Boards' performance on gender diversity.  In particular he highlighted:-

 'We examined how boards are performing on gender diversity in light of the October 2015 announcement by Lord Davies that the FTSE 100 as a group had met a target of 25% female board members, the FTSE 250 was close to 20% and the FTSE 350 average as a whole was 21.9%.  

We found that this headline figure concealed wide variations in the performance of individual companies.  Most companies still fell below the 25% level.  Fifty-five FTSE 100 companies had reached or exceeded the 25% target, but 45 had not.  Two-thirds (168) of FTSE 250 companies had also not met this target. 

While 47% of FTSE 350 companies increased their female board representation over the period of our review, in 46% of companies the proportion of women on their boards either remained the same or even decreased.' 

Sarah Hopkins commented 'this was a great debate and constructive forum.  In particular it was really encouraging to hear John reveal that those organisations using Executive Search firms had a greater chance of increasing diversity.  We are proud to be part of this group championing and sharing Executive Search best practice.'

To find out more about REC and Association of Executive Recruiters please click here