Overseeing and providing training and education
Overall, the majority of respondents 60 percent point to the nominating and governance committee as having primary oversight of director training and education issues. Almost a quarter (24 percent) say their main board has primary oversight in the area. No other committee is named by more than 3 percent of respondents.
The main board is most frequently cited by those at mega-cap companies (35 percent), followed by those at large caps (28 percent), small caps (26 percent) and mid-cap companies (15 percent). The audit committee attracts a few mentions among those at small caps (4 percent) and mid-caps (5 percent).
More than twice as many respondents in North America cite the nominating and governance committee (69 percent) as having primary oversight for training and education as do peers in Europe (30 percent).
Many parties play important roles in director education and training, with boards needing information on a variety of oversight areas from governance and finance to ESG matters and geopolitics affecting the company. Overall, almost all respondents (95 percent) say the general counsel/corporate secretary plays a role in providing directors with relevant, up-to-date information. The next-most frequently cited provider is finance (named by 65 percent of respondents), followed by outside advisers (59 percent), human resources (56 percent), internal audit (50 percent), compliance (43 percent) and the sustainability team (39 percent).
The likelihood of the general counsel/corporate secretary being involved is fairly consistent across company cap sizes and regions. The frequency with which outside advisers are cited is reasonably consistent regardless of company size.
But just 37 percent of respondents at small-cap companies say their HR team is involved in supplying directors with the information they need, compared with 60 percent of those at mid-caps, 69 percent at large caps and 71 percent at mega-cap companies.
Similarly, only around a quarter (24 percent) of small-cap respondents say their sustainability team provides information to directors, fewer than those at mid-caps (38 percent), large caps (51 percent) and mega-cap companies (57 percent).
Compliance teams are also cited more frequently by respondents at mega-cap companies (62 percent) than their peers at large-cap companies (51 percent), mid-cap firms (43 percent) or small caps (35 percent).
Respondents in Europe generally report more frequent involvement in the process from a wider variety of sources. For example, almost half (49 percent) of those in Europe say their sustainability team is involved, compared with 37 percent of those in North America. Fifty-four percent of respondents in Europe say their compliance team is involved, while 41 percent of those in North America say likewise.
That said, more than six in 10 respondents in North America (61 percent) report using outside advisers, compared with 54 percent of their peers in Europe.
Training members of the board rather than supplying relevant information can be a more specialized role. Three quarters of all respondents say their general counsel/corporate secretary conducts director training. Just over half (54 percent) say they use outside advisers. Beyond that, the team most frequently cited as training directors is finance (27 percent), followed by compliance (23 percent), human resources (20 percent), the sustainability team (19 percent) and internal audit (12 percent).
Respondents at large-cap companies are more likely than others to say HR takes part in training directors (31 percent). This compares with 18 percent of those at mid-caps, 14 percent of those at mega-caps and 12 percent of those at small caps. Similarly, a third of those at large-cap companies say finance is involved, more than twice as many as at mega-cap companies (14 percent).
Respondents at bigger companies more frequently say their sustainability and internal audit teams are involved in director training. Those at mega-cap companies are most likely to use outside advisers (67 percent) while 56 percent, 48 percent and 51 percent of those at large caps, mid-caps and small caps, respectively, do so.
Those in North America (57 percent) are more likely than those in Europe (46 percent) to use outside advisers. Respondents in Europe (31 percent) are more likely than their peers in North America (21 percent) to say compliance plays a role in director training.
