FTSE ALL-Share executive board members, both male and female, make up 40 per cent of the board this year, but a new research issued raises serious concerns about the lack of skills and diversity of expertise among them.
New data from Women on Boards UK (A network of non-executive board directors sharing NED advice) and consulting firm Protiviti reveals that, just 2.3 per cent of executive board members hold positions other than CEO, CFO, or company secretary and only ten per cent of executive board directors are women.
The female presence on FTSE All-Share and AIM listed boards is tracked in The Hidden Talent: Diversity & Inclusion in the FTSE All-Share report.
Additionally, the research examines the mix of abilities and expertise of executives invited to join the board in a first-of-its-kind analysis of over 1,000 listed firms, shedding light on a critical but sometimes overlooked aspect of boardroom diversity – diversity of expertise.
Fiona Hathorn, CEO, and co-founder of Women on Boards said: “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.
“Traditional skills and leadership experience are of course desirable, but companies must take a more holistic view and ensure an optimal mix of expertise to navigate the changing business landscape.
“It’s time to redefine ‘board-ready talent’ and by doing so we believe we will also see improvements in diversity targets for gender and ethnicity representation in the boardroom”.
With 68 per cent of these executives holding either chief operating officer or chief technology officer roles, operational efficiency was the primary emphasis of their work.
Less than 30 positions across roughly 600 businesses are left, including those for employee representative, general counsel (senior legal advisor), chief information officer, chief strategy officer, and chief people officer.
Women on Boards also said that it has been tracking gender diversity in FTSE All-Share businesses outside the top 350 listed companies, with results showing an improvement from 48 per cent of companies not meeting the aim of 33 per cent women on boards in 2021 to just 16 per cent in 2023.
It also found that, the percentage of women in boardroom positions at FTSE 350 businesses increased from 9.5 per cent in 2011 to 40.2 per cent in 2023.
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