Report to slam FTSE boards as ‘complacent’ on ethnic diversity goal
Britain’s biggest public companies will this week be accused of complacency over a target to appoint a non-white director by the end of 2021.
The Parker Review, led by City grandee Sir John Parker, outlined the target in 2016. In a progress report set to be published on Tuesday, Parker will slam FTSE firms for being complacent over ethnic diversity, according to Sky News.
Although Parker will suggest the objectives could still be met, he will say: “too many of us, I fear, remain complacent that change will come about naturally through the passage of time”.
“The suspicion is that our company cultures are not actively encouraging talented minority executives and non-executives to choose roles in our businesses,” he will say in the foreward.
“To many, our continuing lack of ethnic diversity looks less like a failure on the part of minority communities to produce competent candidates, and far more like a choice on the part of business to settle for the familiar and traditional recruitment processes.”
Parker’s initial report, published in 2016, set FTSE 350 companies the target of appointing at least one non-white director by next year.
Almost 100 of the 350 firms did not even respond to the survey with data on director’s ethnicity, Sky reported. Of the 256 that did reply, 150 are currently failing to meet the target.
Within the FTSE 100, as many as 48 companies are failing to meet the aim — a modest decrease on comparable figures from two years ago.