EU reforms impose boardroom gender targets for banks from January
12 August 2013
Banks and financial services firms will be required to set gender targets for their boards from January, under regulations due to be introduced as part of EU reforms.
Mon, 12 Aug 2013
This will be the first time such a requirement has been imposed on UK companies, according to Pinsent Masons partner Linda Jones, who brought the matter to light.
“The regulations will not prescribe what the targets should be, but they will have to be published, and businesses will no doubt be wary of publishing targets that are too lacking in ambition,” says Jones.
Raj Tulsiani, chief executive officer and founder of Green Park Interim & Executive Search, tells Recruiter: “We have to be really careful in this area that we are not creating the conditions for tokenistic appointments, and that we are not creating a situation where workforce diversity is reduced down to gender at the expense of other protected characteristics.”
Protected characteristics under UK employment law are age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage and civil partnership, race, religion or belief, sex and sexual orientation, making it unlawful to discriminate on any of these grounds.
Emma Stewart MBE, co-founder of the Timewise Foundation, a social business that helps people to find flexibility in their careers without losing value in the workplace, says: “Quota or no quota, the situation will not improve until agile, flexible career paths are more the norm.
“Each year, thousands of women feel forced to make the difficult decision to walk away from careers they have spent years building, because they could not find the flexibility they needed. But business is listening,” she tells Recruiter.
“The best way to ensure a more inclusive workplace, where no-one is at a disadvantage due to their gender or caring responsibilities, is to take a business-led approach and share the good practice already in play.”
Helena Morrissey CBE, chief executive officer of fund managers Newton and founder of the 30% Club, a campaign group made up company chairmen working to have 30% of board positions filled by women, says: “It is unnecessary and unwelcome to have regulatory targets imposed by the EU.”
“The UK is already making strong progress, so to some extent any regulatory measures emanating from the EU might seem academic. Large banks for example already have stated targets.
“That said, there is a world of philosophical difference between voluntary action, which companies then 'own' and believe in and which can create sustainable meaningful change, and mandatory or regulatory requirements, which are often then paid lip service to.”
The coalition is pushing businesses to fill 25% of their board positions with women by 2015, or face quotas, and a recent Department for Business, Innovation and Skills select committee report suggested more work is needed throughout the labour market, not just at senior level. Germany recently rejected boardroom quotas.
This will be the first time such a requirement has been imposed on UK companies, according to Pinsent Masons partner Linda Jones, who brought the matter to light.
“The regulations will not prescribe what the targets should be, but they will have to be published, and businesses will no doubt be wary of publishing targets that are too lacking in ambition,” says Jones.
Raj Tulsiani, chief executive officer and founder of Green Park Interim & Executive Search, tells Recruiter: “We have to be really careful in this area that we are not creating the conditions for tokenistic appointments, and that we are not creating a situation where workforce diversity is reduced down to gender at the expense of other protected characteristics.”
Protected characteristics under UK employment law are age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage and civil partnership, race, religion or belief, sex and sexual orientation, making it unlawful to discriminate on any of these grounds.
Emma Stewart MBE, co-founder of the Timewise Foundation, a social business that helps people to find flexibility in their careers without losing value in the workplace, says: “Quota or no quota, the situation will not improve until agile, flexible career paths are more the norm.
“Each year, thousands of women feel forced to make the difficult decision to walk away from careers they have spent years building, because they could not find the flexibility they needed. But business is listening,” she tells Recruiter.
“The best way to ensure a more inclusive workplace, where no-one is at a disadvantage due to their gender or caring responsibilities, is to take a business-led approach and share the good practice already in play.”
Helena Morrissey CBE, chief executive officer of fund managers Newton and founder of the 30% Club, a campaign group made up company chairmen working to have 30% of board positions filled by women, says: “It is unnecessary and unwelcome to have regulatory targets imposed by the EU.”
“The UK is already making strong progress, so to some extent any regulatory measures emanating from the EU might seem academic. Large banks for example already have stated targets.
“That said, there is a world of philosophical difference between voluntary action, which companies then 'own' and believe in and which can create sustainable meaningful change, and mandatory or regulatory requirements, which are often then paid lip service to.”
The coalition is pushing businesses to fill 25% of their board positions with women by 2015, or face quotas, and a recent Department for Business, Innovation and Skills select committee report suggested more work is needed throughout the labour market, not just at senior level. Germany recently rejected boardroom quotas.
