19 February, 2021

AIM and FTSE SMC companies lag behind larger firms on diversity

All-white boards are unlikely to disappear from smaller listed companies for years, according to a new report. Research into the progress of women and ethnic minority directors across the AIM UK 50...

15 February, 2021

Adoption of ESG pay incentives ‘doubles over past two years’

In just two years the use of ESG pay incentives for executives has more than doubled, according to ISS ESG, the responsible investment arm of Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS). The company's...

26 January, 2021

WEF launches coalition to ‘put racial equality on the board agenda’

Saadia Zahidi, managing director of the World Economic Forum (WEF), points out this poignant fact: just 1% of Fortune 500 companies are led by Black chief executives. She highlighted the statistics th...

15 January, 2021

‘A systemic risk’: investors demand greater ethnic diversity in boardrooms

In case there was any doubt: it’s time to address the lack of ethnic diversity in boardrooms. The issue has been in the background for some time, but the Black Lives Matter protests in the US, UK...

21 December, 2020

The Secret NED: a non-executive is not just for Christmas

With more and more emphasis on the importance of diversity in board c...

21 December, 2020

Pandemic shows ‘broader range of expertise’ is needed on boards

The Covid-19 pandemic has helped crystallise the need to renew efforts on boardroom diversity, according to a report from ethics experts. Researchers from the

2 December, 2020

Shareholder pressure gets women directors on US boards

Much research has argued the business case for gender diversity on boards. But it is pressure applied by big shareholders that seems to have progressed the cause of women in US boardrooms. New rese...

23 November, 2020

New ISS benchmarks increase the pressure for diverse boards

Despite a lack of clear guidelines, Russell 3000 and S&P 1500 boards will need to demonstrate diversity or risk anti-management proxy votes. In the wake of a turbulent year where racial inequal...

20 November, 2020

UK companies ‘need to go further’ on LGBTQ+ inclusion

This week the spotlight turned on LGBTQ+ people in business and whether they are treated fairly by companies. A report from the UK’s governance regulator concludes that many firms "need to go much f...

28 October, 2020

Executive gender pay gap diminishes over time—but doesn’t disappear

Gender pay gaps diminish over time as employers learn more about their newly appointed executives. The bad news is that improved knowledge does not remove the executive gender pay gap entirely. Tho...