Voici une étude très instructive publiée par l’International Centre for Women Leaders de Cranfield School of Management portant sur la diversité des genres sur les Boards, et notamment sur le processus de recrutement d’administratrices et le rôle des firmes de recrutement. Toute personne intéressée par la veille et la recherche en gouvernance devrait porter une attention spéciale sur les recommandations de cette étude.

Le processus de recrutement d’administratrices et le rôle des firmes de recrutement

Voici quelques résultats; pour la suite, veuillez lire l’article.

« The Board appointment process remains opaque and subjective, and typically driven by a corporate elite of predominantly male Chairmen who tend to favour those with similar characteristics to themselves.

This has changed somewhat over recent years as demonstrated by the 30% Club – a group of Chairmen who champion gender diversity on boards. Despite these efforts, non-executive director (NED) appointments are still informed by how much candidates ‘fit’ with the values, norms and behaviours of existing Board members.

The evidence reviewed suggests that as intermediaries in this elite labour market, ESFs assess candidates not only on their suitability for the role because of the skills they possess, but also on the subjective judgements of how they fit in with the current Board. Due to the male-dominated nature of corporate Boards, female candidates are likely to be disadvantaged by these practices.

The search consultants interviewed indicated a heightened awareness of the importance of gender diversity on Boards within their firms and among their clients. The interview findings revealed a number of good practices currently emerging in the search sector. However, it must be noted that these practices did not appear to be embraced to the same extent in all search firms. In addition, findings also confirmed some of the evidence reviewed, pointing to a number of shortcomings in the practices employed by ESFs and other stakeholders in the appointment process.

Good practices among the ESFs interviewed were grouped around six key aspects:

– Proactively putting diversity on the agenda in the appointment process.

– Challenging Chairmen and Nomination Committees when defining the brief, so that more importance is given to underlying competencies as opposed to prior experience.

– Finding creative ways to expand the talent pool and reach out to female candidates.

– Ensuring female representation on the long list and the short list.

– Supporting female candidates throughout the appointment process by taking on developmental and advocacy roles.

– Supporting Chairmen in handling resistance to female candidates from other Board members »….