Labour to introduce race quotas for top Boards

The Labour party have pledged that if they were to win the next General Election in 2015, they would seriously consider introducing gender and race quotas for top business boards.

Leading the charge was Labour’s Shadow Business Secretary Chuka Umunna who stated that

"The continued existence of a glass ceiling for women and ethnic minorities in our boardrooms is undeniable and unacceptable," Umunna said. "Whilst advances on non-executive appointments in recent years have been welcome, progress on executive positions has been lamentable." "Increasing diversity adds to our international competitiveness as boards make better decisions where a range of voices drawing on different life experiences can be heard."

Umunna's announcement comes after ground breaking analysis of 10,000 FTSE 100 executives found that only a dozen of the 289 top posts of chief executive, chairman or chief financial officer held by women, and just ten by ethnic minorities.

The Green Park Leadership 10,000 report used computer software to investigate the backgrounds of Britain's top business executives, including gender and ethno-cultural composition, and looked at 15 business sectors.

"In the past decade there has been a growing consensus that our business elite is simply too narrow in its outlook, too prone to a herd mentality and just not switched on enough to the 21st century world," said former Equality and Human Rights Commission chairman Trevor Phillips. He carried out the study with King's College London academic Professor Richard Webber.

What is interesting about the groundbreaking report and the Labour’s response is that usually these conversations about diverse boards are confined to gender, and worse still the too often stock response is: ‘Well, it’s all about meritocracy, getting the best people for the jobs’. Labour’s Chuck Umannu has placed himself full square against that orthodoxy with plan to ensure talent comes through.

Let’s also hope the innovative  Green Park Leadership work finds other avenues to reveal institutions gender and racial make up  in other key areas of the work place such as political parties, local authorities, or some of our very big employers. The possibilities are endless, the information vital if we are to identify where we need change.

http://www.green-park.co.uk

Many thanks,

Simon Woolley