The latest Global Diversity and Inclusion (D&) Index, carried out by Refinitiv, has revealed that cultural diversity in the boardroom has stalled, while the number of women on boards has steadily improved. Although cultural diversity of board members has increased globally from five years ago, it appears to have stalled at around 30%, noted the study.
Europe leads the way with the most culturally diverse boards at 38.1%, followed by the Americas (26.3%), Asia (24.3%), Oceania (20.3%) and Africa 17.3%). Company boards in Asia Pacific, however, are becoming less culturally diverse, noted the report. The study also revealed that the latest figures have dropped slightly, compared to the year before, apart from Africa.
At a country level, Germany is the only country that has maintained a positive increase in the percentage of culturally diverse board members. Most other countries peaked in 2015, noted Refinitiv. In terms of industry trends, the energy industry is leading the way on board cultural diversity and has seen the most improvement over five years. Although the financial services industry has seen a large improvement from five years ago, the industry is lower than average in terms of culturally diverse boards.
WOMEN ON BOARDS
On a positive note, the proportion of women on boards has continued to increase over the last five years. As many European countries now have quotas to increase the number of women in senior positions, it’s not surprising that the EMEA is leading the way on board gender diversity. At the country level, Australia, Canada, France, Malaysia and Switzerland are leaders in terms of gender-diverse boards, while Brazil, China, Hong Kong and Japan “still struggle in this area”, pointed out Refinitiv. All industries are seeing increases in numbers of women on the board, as female representation continues to be a major topic for business around the world.
Other key findings reveal that the number of companies with an official flexible working policy has increased by 54% over the last five years. A total of 25% more companies have a career development policy in place than five years ago.
MOST DIVERSE & INCLUSIVE COMPANIES
Refinitiv’s study also reveals 2020’s Top 100 most diverse and inclusive organisations globally. BlackRock leads the list followed by Natura & Co, Accenture, Royal bank of Canada, Industria de Diseno Textil SA, L’Oreal, Allianz, Telecom Italia, Novartis AG and Bank of Nova Scotia.
Industries leading this year’s D&I Index Top 100 are banking, investment services & insurance firms with a total of 18, followed by pharmaceuticals with nine and telecommunications services, specialty retailers and personal & household products & services with seven, respectively.
The US leads the Top 100 list with 20 firms followed by the United Kingdom with 13, Australia with 9 and Canada and France with seven. Refinitiv’s D&I Index, launched in 2016, ranks the top 100 publicly traded companies globally with the most diverse and inclusive workplaces, as measured by its 24 metrics across four key categories: Diversity, Inclusion, People Development and News Controversies. Only companies with scores across all four pillars are included.
Click here for more information about the report here.
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