Latest stats published on women at the top of FTSE 350 companies: Hampton-Alexander Report 2019

Latest stats published on women at the top of FTSE 350 companies: Hampton-Alexander Report 2019

With one year to go until the target date for achieving 33% women on FTSE 350 boards and in senior leadership* roles, the penultimate Hampton-Alexander report published on 14th November has shown the strongest year of progress to date – but still much more to be done.

Hampton-Alexander is an independent, government-supported review reporting annually since 2016.  Its key recommendations for FTSE 350 companies are: 33% targets for women on boards and in leadership roles by the end of 2020; and an increase in the number of women in roles of Chair, Senior Independent Director and Executive Director positions on their boards.

The latest figures show good and bad news.  For women on boards, the FTSE 100 is on track to meet the 33% target, with 32.4% of positions now held by women (up from 30.2% last year and only 12.5% in 2011). The FTSE 250 had its best year yet, seeing an increase from 24.9% to 29.6% and with the sustained effort, it too is likely to meet the 2020 deadline.  Overall, the FTSE 350 is at 30.6% for women on boards.

However, when it comes to the gender balance of over 20,000 senior leadership positions in the FTSE 350, more needs to be done.  Women’s representation in the FTSE 100 has increased from 27% in 2018 to 28.6% and the FTSE 250 has seen a stronger increase from 24.9% to 27.9%.  But around 175 companies are still well adrift from the 33% target, there are still 44 all-male Executive Committees and two-thirds of appointments continue to go to men.

Sir Philip Hampton, Chair of the Review said:

“If this progress continues into 2020, our targets for Women on Boards will be met. Whilst this is a key indicator of change at the top, strengthening the number of women in executive positions is critical to achieving long-term gender balance. We are still a long way from reaching the target for women in senior leadership roles below board level. Unless half of all appointments made this year go to women – our target for 2020 is not going to be met.”

The full report can be downloaded here.

*defined as the combined executive committees and direct reports to the executive committee.