On the agenda?
Perhaps surprisingly – given the attention the issue has attracted among shareholders, companies and regulators – only around a third (35 percent) of respondents say investors ask about diversity on their company’s board, with 43 percent saying they do not. It should be noted, however, that more than a fifth of respondents (22 percent) say they do not know whether the topic is ever raised.
Respondents in Europe are more likely to have investors that ask about board diversity (43 percent) than those in North America (34 percent) or Asia (31 percent). But respondents in North America are less likely to know whether the issue is raised (27 percent) than those in Europe or Asia. Sixty-two percent of respondents in Asia say investors don’t ask about the topic.
Respondents at larger companies are more likely to hear investors ask about board diversity. Only around a fifth (22 percent) of respondents at small-cap companies say investors ask, compared with a third of those at mid-caps, more than half (57 percent) of those at large caps and almost three quarters (71 percent) of those at mega-cap companies.
Among those who say investors ask about diversity, more than a third say they ask about gender and/or ethnic and racial diversity. Other comments from respondents include:
