Transforming gender diversity on UK FTSE 350 boards and beyond 

Opening boardroom doors wide 

Via the annual Cranfield Female FTSE Board Reports, the Centre monitored year-on-year changes in the percentages of women on the boards of FTSE100 and FTSE250 companies. For the first time, the composition of boards was opened up to scrutiny and progress could be tracked in terms of appointment rates needed to meet targets being set. 

Cranfield went further, investigating the way in which organisations were reporting on their board diversity on behalf of the Financial Reporting Council (FRC) — as well as looking at the impact of gender diversity from consultancies involved in carrying out external reviews of FTSE boards. These pieces of research led to a clear package of recommendations for boards around metrics and targets to underpin more transparent and robust reporting, as well as guidelines for board reviews. 

Other work led to the development of the Inclusive Talent Model (ITM) to build a stronger pipeline of women considered for board positions. This explored what was needed to shift to a more inclusive approach, offering a means for organisations to audit their existing culture, identify the most appropriate actions and monitor progress. 

Since 2009, the Centre has produced a 100 Women to Watch supplement to showcase the range of high potential female professionals available for director roles on boards of FTSE 350 companies — acting in response to research which highlighted the need for more pro-active championing of female talent, as women have been less likely than men to promote themselves. 

Insights into action 

Cranfield knowledge has turned into practical programmes of action, a foundation for setting targets and monitoring progress. All of which, in turn, has contributed to a change in the landscape of gender diversity in boardrooms: 

• Cranfield’s Gender and Leadership Inclusion Centre has played a long-term role in shaping the decisions made by the Davies and Hampton Alexander Reviews in their work to increase the number of women on FTSE 350 boards, leading to input into government policy; 

• the annual Female FTSE Board reports have involved backing and sponsorship from the Government Equalities Office from 2000 to 2019, in partnership with major companies, such as Shell, Pearson, Sainsbury, PWC, EY, KPMG, National Grid and Aviva;  

• from 2013 to 2015, the numbers of women on UK FTSE 350 Boards increased from 17.3% to 26.1% of directorships in FTSE 100 companies and from 13.3% to 19.6% of directorships in FTSE 250 companies. Since the beginning of the Hampton Alexander Review, the percentage of women on FTSE 100 Boards has risen from 26.3% in 2016 to 39.6% in 2022 and on FTSE 250 Boards, from 20.4% in 2016 to 38.9% in 2022; 

• the FRC’s 2018 report into board diversity reporting showed that in 2012, just 56 FTSE 100 companies had a board diversity policy, all of which focused on gender. As a result of changes in reporting requirements, by 2018 98% of FTSE 100 and 88% of FTSE 250 companies had a board diversity policy (and around a third of these referred to ethnicity as well as gender); 

• the Inclusive Talent Model (ITM) was used to help ensure a global pipeline of women to fill senior positions in HSBC’s 80,000 strong Operations, Services and Technology (HOST) division. A total of 110 women took part in the programme between 2016 and 2018: out of which 50% experienced a lateral or vertical career move within 12 months of the initiative starting;  

• over the course of the past 10 years of the Women to Watch initiative, 57 of the women featured have been appointed to FTSE 350 boards, including four to FTSE 100 CEO roles and one to a FTSE 100 Chair role. The Enhanced Voluntary Code of Conduct issued by government for FTSE 350 Accreditation specifies that Executive Search firms need to “ensure detailed familiarity with and appropriate use of external lists produced by organisations such as Cranfield and others.”