Eye-catching rise in female non-execs doesn't tell whole story
30 March 2012
A big jump in the number of women being hired as non-executive directors (NEDs) on boards is good news for equality in the boardrooms, says a recent survey.
Tues, 7 Feb 2012
A big jump in the number of women being hired as non-executive directors (NEDs) on boards is good news for equality in the boardrooms, says a recent survey.
However, there may be more to the rise than initially meets the eye, according to board level headhunters.A study by executive search consultancy Norman Broadbent revealed that over the past year, 26% of all NED appointments in Britain’s largest companies were female. In contrast, just 9% of executive posts went to women.
Responding to the industrial sector’s prevalence for male directors, Neil Holmes of Norman Broadbent’s board practice says: “We are finding that women are appearing on shortlists, but the supply on the executive side is still lower than it should be.
“This requires companies to invest in long-term cultural changes to ensure that in the future, women vying for executive roles have the depth and breadth of experience that is today more prevalent among their male counterparts; this must be about quality derived from retention and experience, and not about tokenism.”
Carol Rosati, a director at Harvey Nash, tells Recruiter that companies are going for “a quick fix” because of peer pressure to bring companies in line with Lord Davies’ target for 25% representation by women on FTSE 100 companies by 2015.
Rosati says that while progress is bound to be slower for executive board level positions, there are things that can be done to speed up progress.
She suggests that mentoring of aspiring women by C-level women executives has a role to play. Beyond this, she says there is a need for longer-term succession planning and resourcing strategy.
Rosati says companies need to look at the big picture. And she suggests they need to take into account that the younger generation of executives also wants time to look after older family members and to spend more time with their children.
“Companies need to engage with their workforce in a way they haven’t in the past. People are committed to work their way up through the ranks, but there are other things that are equally important to them, so companies will need to engage with them to avoid attrition.”
Jane Scott, UK director of the Professional Boards Forum, an organisation that works to identify and promote senior women with the skills and ambition to be non-executive directors of major UK businesses, tells Recruiter that it is unrealistic for women appointed to NED positions to progress to executive level roles, describing the two groups as distinct.
Key findings from Norman Broadbent study:
- In the past year, the percentage of women on boards across the three FTSE indices has increased:
- FTSE 100 by +16% to 14.9%
- FTSE 250 by +18% to 9.4%
- FTSE Small Cap by +27.9% to 9%.
Speaking in November of last year, Lynne Featherstone, minister for equalities, claimed that better use of women’s skills could be worth £15-23bn to the UK economy each year.
A big jump in the number of women being hired as non-executive directors (NEDs) on boards is good news for equality in the boardrooms, says a recent survey.
However, there may be more to the rise than initially meets the eye, according to board level headhunters.A study by executive search consultancy Norman Broadbent revealed that over the past year, 26% of all NED appointments in Britain’s largest companies were female. In contrast, just 9% of executive posts went to women.
Responding to the industrial sector’s prevalence for male directors, Neil Holmes of Norman Broadbent’s board practice says: “We are finding that women are appearing on shortlists, but the supply on the executive side is still lower than it should be.
“This requires companies to invest in long-term cultural changes to ensure that in the future, women vying for executive roles have the depth and breadth of experience that is today more prevalent among their male counterparts; this must be about quality derived from retention and experience, and not about tokenism.”
Carol Rosati, a director at Harvey Nash, tells Recruiter that companies are going for “a quick fix” because of peer pressure to bring companies in line with Lord Davies’ target for 25% representation by women on FTSE 100 companies by 2015.
Rosati says that while progress is bound to be slower for executive board level positions, there are things that can be done to speed up progress.
She suggests that mentoring of aspiring women by C-level women executives has a role to play. Beyond this, she says there is a need for longer-term succession planning and resourcing strategy.
Rosati says companies need to look at the big picture. And she suggests they need to take into account that the younger generation of executives also wants time to look after older family members and to spend more time with their children.
“Companies need to engage with their workforce in a way they haven’t in the past. People are committed to work their way up through the ranks, but there are other things that are equally important to them, so companies will need to engage with them to avoid attrition.”
Jane Scott, UK director of the Professional Boards Forum, an organisation that works to identify and promote senior women with the skills and ambition to be non-executive directors of major UK businesses, tells Recruiter that it is unrealistic for women appointed to NED positions to progress to executive level roles, describing the two groups as distinct.
Key findings from Norman Broadbent study:
- In the past year, the percentage of women on boards across the three FTSE indices has increased:
- FTSE 100 by +16% to 14.9%
- FTSE 250 by +18% to 9.4%
- FTSE Small Cap by +27.9% to 9%.
Speaking in November of last year, Lynne Featherstone, minister for equalities, claimed that better use of women’s skills could be worth £15-23bn to the UK economy each year.
