Cranfield Female FTSE Board Report 2016

Case Studies

The Female FTSE Board Report 2016

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ACCOUNTABILITY KPMG determined that if the business remained at 15% female partnership – it would be behind the market, risk losing out on valuable talent and see increased recruitment costs. Accountability for the public target zones and three year strategy sits with our Chairman’s Board. The Board and Executive Committee have all agreed functional, inclusive, leadership action plans to ensure the organization successfully reaches its target zones. They are held to account by our Inclusive Leadership Advisory Board made up of experts in the field. In addition, every Partner has a scorecard which includes inclusive leadership capabilities against which their annual performance will be measured. PROPORTIONALITY IN THE PROMOTIONS PROCESS Recruitment and promotion processes are key to hitting our targets. Senior leaders have attended inclusive leadership workshops showing how unconscious bias can impact on promotion decisions, how to create an inclusive environment and the positive impact of this on business performance. People Leaders and Performance Managers were trained in ‘proportionality’ ahead of the bi-annual promotion meetings; understanding that promotion decisions should be proportional to the available talent pool, e.g. if 40% of employees were female at manager level, we would expect approximately 40% of staff promoted to senior manager to be female, reflecting the available pipeline. Proportionality is used to monitor effectiveness of attraction, retention and talent management strategies and influence more inclusive practice. CHALLENGES KPMG has found that clear communication is key to success. Initially, there was some confusion when the target zones were first launched that they were quotas. This was managed through careful and consistent communications, as well as opportunities to have open and honest conversations. Where development initiatives have been utilized to address underrepresentation risks, there has needed to be careful management of fear of ‘positive action’. A focus on proportionality and underrepresentation is key to mitigating the risk. The target zones (alongside other tools such as staff engagement survey data cut by diversity strand) serve as a tangible measurement of inclusive leadership across the business and are used within Executive Committee meetings and board meetings to support discussion and action. Whilst the targets have only been published for a year, we are already seeing positive signs of change in engagement with diversity and inclusion, and building a diverse talent pipeline. Setting public firm-wide targets has bought a sharp focus to the strategy and actions to achieve the recruitment, retention and promotion of diverse talent. We are clear this is the start of the journey rather than an outcome. We are reviewing progress against the Target Zones and Inclusive Leadership strategy to ensure that consistent culture change has been achieved along with increasing the number of diverse staff recruited and promoted within the firm. In 2018 we will seek to set the journey for the next 3 years. KPMG are also helping to address concerns from the business community to create greater diversity on boards. In October 2015 we launched Connect On Board, an online platform designed to connect non-executive director (NED) candidates from a diverse talent pool with organizations seeking to build better boards. From the outset the vision for Connect On Board has been to help increase the visibility of first class executives who are ready for NED positions and diversify the breadth of talent around the boardroom table. Currently the platform has over 500 candidates, male and female at both aspiring and established NED levels. For more details visit kpmgconnectonboard.com and register your interest.