All Talk, little Action on Board diversity Goals

Ask companies if they want to increase board diversity, and a majority will say yes. Ask them how, and things get murkier. While greater diversity on boards is a priority among organizations, a new survey released finds few are willing to take actions likely to change their demographic makeup. Tactics that help recruit and hire non-white and non-male directors are highly unpopular among executives surveyed by the New york Stock exchange and diligent, which sells collaborative software to boards. Over half said they have diversity plans, but most don’t have policies in place that will do much to broaden board makeup. Only 3 per cent said their companies had quotas for directors of a certain race or gender, and the mandates ranked as the least likely step firms would take to achieve their goals.