Speaking up in board meetings
Calling All FTSE 350 Companies – Don’t miss the deadline for submitting your gender data in July in time for this year’s Hampton-Alexander report
The Hampton-Alexander Review (the Review) is an independent review body, supported by Government which builds on the excellent work of the Davies Review to increase the number of women on FTSE 350 boards, with an important new focus to improve women’s representation in senior leadership positions.
The first Hampton-Alexander report was published in 2016, and set out recommendations for FTSE 350 companies to improve the representation of women in leadership positions. The report increased the voluntary target from 25% to 33% women’s representation on FTSE 350 Boards by 2020. It also set a new target of 33% women’s representation for FTSE 100 companies across the combined Executive Committee and in the Direct Reports to the Executive Committee by 2020.
This year’s report will be published in November and the Department of Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy is currently writing to all FTSE 350 companies on behalf of the Review, asking for data on the number of men and women in leadership ranks.
Although the composition of FTSE Boards is publically available information and also reported by Board Ex. and elsewhere, this is not the case for the composition of FTSE 350 Executive Committees or Direct Reports to the Executive Committee. To provide accurate year-on-year reporting on progress towards the 33% target, all FTSE 350 companies are therefore asked to submit their gender data at the same time via the portal on the Hampton-Alexander website.
Last year more than 240 FTSE companies submitted their gender performance data last summer, enabling the Review to establish a base-line from which to develop targets and track progress. This year we anticipate all FTSE 350 companies will submit their gender data on the new, simplified online portal which is open from 30th June 2017 until 28th July 2017.
Voluntary disclosures and the regular reporting of progress, transparency and the sharing of initiatives to increase the number of women in leadership roles, have been pivotal to the progress. Since 2011 over 550 women have been newly appointed to FTSE 350 Boards and there were 152 All-Male boards in the FTSE 350 Index. Today there are just 8 All-Male boards – albeit still 8 too many.
Just to be clear, this isn’t the same as Gender Pay Gap reporting progress in November which is a legislative requirement that came into force in April 2017 for all companies in Great Britain with 250 or more employees. This is a voluntary request made by the independent Hampton-Alexander Review
Thank you for your support, we look forward to sharing progress and best practice later in the year.
Related posts:
The NEDonBoard take-aways from the 2018 Hampton-Alexander Review
Gender diversity and balance in UK boardrooms: celebrate progress but remain alert
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