About this Report
It’s hardly surprising that the focus on I&D has been intensifying recently among all stakeholders. And this is why we at BoardEx and Odgers Berndtson believe that now is an ideal time to investigate the current state of play of I&D at a leadership level in UK companies.
With this goal in mind, we teamed up to carry out a joint research study into how UK Board members and C-suite leaders think about, implement and address this vital issue. We were also keen to investigate what the leaders in this field are doing right and the laggards doing wrong, and whether implementing specific I&D recruitment and retention initiatives increases diversity on Boards and leadership teams. What did the survey responses tell us?
While I&D is of growing importance across all respondents, it currently appears to be more of a priority for leadership teams than for non-executive directors (NEDs). Also, organisations with more diverse Boards are more likely to seek diverse hires at leadership level. And those with less diverse Boards and leadership teams tend to be doing less with regard to I&D, while those who have made the most progress are escalating their efforts.
This suggests the gap between the leaders and laggards is widening – and will continue to do so unless attitudes and actions change. However, it also indicates that among companies that have made little progress to date, a small change could have a big impact. Download the UK Diversity Report for more.