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Leadership has a stark diversity issue. With the rise of equal pay reporting and increased awareness around institutionalised racism within the workplace, it may be assumed that diverse representation within leadership had improved. However, the latest study from Green Park unveiled that for the first time in six years, not a single FTSE100 company has a black executive holding a top position.
This worrying news flies directly in the face of data from HBR, which proves that companies with inclusive leaders are 17% more likely to report that they are high performing, 20% more likely to say they make high-quality decisions, and 29% more likely to report behaving collaboratively.
So how has this stark presentation of diversity within leadership positions come about? According to Green Park Chair Trevor Phillips, the answer is a lack of accountability. "We know there is no shortage of qualified candidates to fill these roles if companies are willing to look. Yet the snowy peaks of British business remain stubbornly white. It is time that shareholders, consumers and employees start questioning whether Black Lives Matter is just rhetoric rather than reality,” he noted in a statement released to the press last week.
HSBC & BP | Gender inequality rife in FTSE 100 businesses
The report, titled the Business Leaders Index, also confirmed that outside of the FTSE100, only 10 out of 297 leaders – or the equivalent to 3.4%, were from a minority ethnic background.
