FTSE 350 companies to be set firm targets for women in senior roles
Sir Philip Hampton, chairman of Glaxo Smith Kline, is readying a report which will set firm targets to FTSE 350 bosses for women in senior roles.
FTSE 350
Hampton’s government-backed review into equality in business will issue a report in November stating that women should be in top jobs at least 25 per cent of companies in the FTSE 350.
That figure may rise to 35 per cent, according to The Times.
As well as the targets, it will also tell bosses that they need to find ways of bringing female talent through the ranks.
It marks a change in tack for the review, in which Hampton initially shied away from targets and said that businesses need to “significantly increase” the number of women in top jobs.
However, he has since decided that strict targets must be set if the dial is to change.
Jayne-Anne Gadhia, chief executive of Virgin Money, said in response: “The assumption has been that with a lot of encouragement, companies would hire more women on their own, but they don’t.”
Less than one in five executive-level jobs in the FTSE 100 are held by women, according to research by Cranfield School of Management, with the number in the FTSE 350 even lower.