The benefits of diversity in the workplace are common knowledge: different ways of looking at a problem, different personal styles, different biases, and the ability to appeal to different types of customers and clients. The benefits to a company’s bottom line are clear and measurable.
That being the case, why has the pace of change been so slow? Take the case of UK professional working women. Women occupy a mere 12.5% of boardroom seats in companies in the FTSE 100 index, despite their academic and work credentials. The percentage of women in board positions in smaller companies is even smaller – 7.9 percent. And there has been little change in the past five years.
In some countries, such as Norway and Spain, the government has legislated that 40 percent of board seats must be occupied by female directors, and other European countries are moving in the same direction. Fortunately, the UK has not yet resorted to such tactics.
Imposing quotas is demeaning, implying that female directors have benefited from tokenism and are sitting on boards merely because of their gender, rather than their merit.
Also, it is reasonable to wonder what kind of female candidates vain rious companies will settle for as they race to fill quotas by arbitrarily set deadlines. In the longer term that will harm both the individual women as well as the idea of increased diversity in the boardroom.
There are three key arguments in favour of increasing female representation in the boardroom:
• First, there is a larger pool of female talent available. Date shows that more than 60 percent of university graduates are female – many of whom are entering the professions and are very ambitious.
• Second, women account for approximately half the population, and in turn, approximately half the potential clients for any business. Keep the two in similar proportion is simply common sense.
• Third, boardroom chemistry, debate and decision-making benefit from the different skills, mindsets and style that women or other diversity groups bring to the table.
It is important to remember that this problem does not just affect women. Many, if not most, businesses today serve multi-cultural societies in global markets. This strengthens the case for increasing all types of diversity in boardrooms.
This does not mean that board can or should neglect selection based on merit, but companies must recognise that diversity on the board can add real value. The risk is low and the rewards are high.
