No ethnic minorities on 58% of FTSE boards
The number of FTSE 100 businesses with ethnic minority representation in the leadership pipeline has seen a small improvement, although over half of boards still have no ethnic minority presence, according to a report by executive search company Green Park.
Green Park’s Leadership 10,000 report found that nearly six in 10 boards (58%) have no ethnic minority representation, despite the recommendation of last year’s government-commissioned Parker Review that no FTSE 100 board should be exclusively white by 2021.
Further analysis by role shows there has been an 18% fall in ethnic minorities holding positions at chair, chief executive and chief finance officer level in FTSE 100 companies.
There has been some slow progress just below board level. Data shows that among the 100 most senior roles at this level, ethnic diversity has risen to 5%, the highest level since Green Park started monitoring the figures four years ago.
However, none of the companies have chief executive officers or chief financial officers who are women from ethnic minority groups. The report says that gender diversity in leadership is now moving backwards in more industries than moving forwards, and women have to be three times more educated than men to sit on a FTSE 100 board.
The study concludes by advising companies to focus more on diversity in succession planning, and that responsibility for this should not be delegated but placed with the chair.