Despite some progress on diversity, in the upper echelons of Britain’s top companies ethnic minorities and females are still being shunted into functions which are far less likely routes into the top tier of leadership than those travelled by their white, male counterparts. Most analyses of corporate CEO backgrounds show a preference for executives with experience in finance, sales and operations.
According to executive recruitment and diversity consultancy Green Park’s annual FTSE 100 Business Leaders Index Britain’s female and ethnic minority business leaders remain largely consigned to functions such as HR, diversity and marketing & communications. They hold less influence, have lower salaries and are less likely to be on track to C-Suite roles. The survey also reveals that one of the least diverse functions is diversity & inclusion, which is disproportionately a white and female preserve – nearly two out of three of these senior roles are filled by white women.
The Business Leaders Index shows for the first time that there are no black leaders in C-suite roles at FTSE 100 companies, dropping to zero after stalling for the past 6 years. This would appear to confirm that ethnic minority leaders are diverted towards the pathways least likely to lead to the top.
At the ‘Top 40’ pipeline level, some functions are dominated by one particular gender or ethnicity. Green Park’s research reveals that 85.4 per cent of Diversity & Inclusion leadership roles at FTSE100 companies are held by women. 62.5 per cent of Diversity and Leadership leaders are white women, with ethnic minority females the second most represented group at 22.9 per cent. Ethnic minority males are the least represented in this function at 6.3 per cent. Human Resources is also predominantly a white female enclave at 55 per cent, while white men dominate in Digital, Data and Technology (76 per cent), Governance and Operations (73 per cent) Commercial and procurement (71 per cent) and Finance (69 per cent) – all much more direct routes to the top.
Green Park’s track record of placing 53 per cent female and 35 per cent ethnic minority candidates into board level roles over the past year demonstrates that diverse leadership talent is out there and that businesses are receptive to hiring diverse senior executives across a range of functions. The company has expanded its activities across the private sector and in particular successfully placing candidates in functions such as IT, Finance and Digital Technology. The report calls for firms to adopt its own rule of requiring all major decisions to be taken by a group which is diverse in gender and ethnicity.
Lord Karan Bilimoria Change the Race Ratio, Chair & Founder and CBI, President, comments: “We must transform words and promises into action and results. We as business leaders must do more to improve the diversity of our boards and leadership teams. What I hear from my conversations with Chairs and CEOs is a clear desire to make progress and an openness to embracing new thinking that’s needed to deliver change. I welcome the recommendations set out in this report and I encourage business leaders to adopt them.”
