FTSE 100 Top Table roles
Is the change we’ve been waiting for finally happening for women in business?
The Government’s Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy has returned some interesting stats in their recent government-backed FTSE Women Leaders Review report published in February 2022.
FTSE 100 Top Table Roles – Report Findings
- Almost 40% of UK FTSE 100 board positions are now held by women, putting the UK second in international rankings for board representation.
- FTSE 100, 250, and 350 all improved the number of women in leadership roles in 2021, with the government’s voluntary, business-led approach paying dividends
- The new review sets out bold recommendations to build on this progress, including increasing the scope to capture the ongoing efforts of the 50 largest private companies.
So what can we make of these statistics?
We can see that the UK has climbed to second in the international rankings for women’s representation on boards at FTSE 100 level. This is evidenced by the findings that 40% of UK FTSE 100 board positions are now held by women. This is a significant improvement compared to the minimal 12.5% only ten years ago.
What is the FTSE Women Leaders Review?
The FTSE Women Leaders Review is an independent, business-led framework supported by the government, which sets recommendations for Britain’s largest companies to improve the representation of Women on FTSE 350 Boards and in FTSE 350 Leadership positions.
It tracks progress on 24,000 Board and leadership roles and builds on the excellent work of the Hampton-Alexander and Davies Reviews over the last ten years. The previous 33% target set in 2016 for Women on Boards was met in the aggregate for the FTSE 350 at the end of 2020, with the number of Women in Leadership just falling short of the target.
Achieving Future Gender Balance
Four new recommendations have been highlighted in the report to fuel further progress in terms of gender balance in the workplace.
- The voluntary target for FTSE 350 Boards and FTSE 350 Leadership teams is to increase to a minimum of 40% women’s representation by the end of 2025
- FTSE 350 companies should have at least one woman in the Chair, Senior Independent Director role on the Board and/or one woman in the Chief Executive Officer or Finance Director role by the end of 2025
- Key stakeholders should continue to set best practice guidelines or use alternative mechanisms to encourage any FTSE 350 Board that has not yet achieved the previous 33% target for the end of 2020 to do so
- The scope of the review is extended beyond FTSE 350 companies to include the largest 50 private companies in the UK by sales