Recommendations for Organisations

Recommendations By Stakeholder Groups

Board Chair & CEO Actions Investors and Regulators Business organisations and advisors Executive Search B4BB Government
1. Demonstrate visible leadership commitment to achieving gender balance on boards and executive teams with clear messaging and strong accountability for results.

2. Monitor succession for Chair, Senior Independent Director, and Senior leadership roles to ensure gender balance.

3. Collaborate to ensure achieving gender balance remains linked to business strategy.

4. Work to eliminate all-male board and leadership environments.

5. Set a goal of at least 50% of new appointments to board and leadership teams to be female.

6. Consider increasing board and leadership team sizes to provide immediate opportunities.

 1. Engage with boards and CEOs to promote and insist on targeted actions to achieve gender-balanced leadership.

2. Monitor the progress of boards in achieving gender balance and use influence and/or voting power to secure progress where appropriate.

3. Work with boards to develop and expand the criteria for board membership.

 1. Engage with business leaders, directors, and boards to promote and support actions to achieve gender-balanced leadership.

2. Promote a broader conversation to include developing the internal pipeline as well as recruiting externally.

3. Collaborate to support the gathering and benchmarking of data across industries.

 1. Actively promote and support gender-balanced search and selection processes, ideally through a commitment to the Executive and Board Resourcing Code 2019 developed by the 30% Club Ireland and Ibec.

2. Broaden and deepen candidate networks and support processes to access the entire pool of female talent and experience.

3. Challenge organisations to take the extra time which may be required to build more balanced interview lists.

 1. Monitor and report on progress against targets for boards and leadership teams of listed companies, large Irish-owned private companies and multinational companies operating in Ireland.

2. Engage with major companies and key business influencers to raise awareness and to share models of good practice.

3 .Promote a broader conversation to include developing the internal pipeline as well as recruiting externally.

4. Communicate the business impact from more gender balanced boards, leadership teams and organisations.

 1. Continue to address structural issues which affect women’s full participation in Irish business life, including flexible working practices, more equal sharing of caring responsibilities, measures to support women in science and technology and women entrepreneurs, and in particular, the high cost of childcare

2. Monitor the achievement of targets set out in this report and consider other measures if targets are not achieved

3. Require large private companies to publish gender information on their board members

Make a Plan & Measure

Create a plan with targets by function to build a gender-balanced workforce in which everyone on the leadership team is invested in, and measured, on progress.

  • Have you a gender-based D&I strategy in place that is linked to the business strategy and informed by your Gender Pay Gap Reporting?

  • Have you set targets that need to be reached as part of this plan and are they linked to the performance goals of senior executives?

  • Is a named executive accountable for the execution of the plan to achieve gender balance?

Succession Planning

Ensure succession planning is completed at Board and Executive levels supported by a gender-balanced pipeline at all levels.

  • Do you have a gender balanced succession plan for leadership in place?

  • Have you analysed your pipeline to identify your gaps and challenges?

  • Is your pipeline gender-balanced, or at least 30%?

Talent Development and Retention

Provide the right supports, including mentorship & sponsorship, to help people develop their skills to advance.

  • Do you have a programme in place to mentor, sponsor and upskill your workforce to help provide equality of opportunity for all to reach goals including by providing flexible ways of working?

  • Do you monitor retention levels for women at all levels in your pipeline?

  • Do you ensure family leave policies are applicable and utilised by all genders?

Recruitment Strategies

Mandate gender-balanced candidate lists for open roles and promotion to board and executive leadership.

  • Do you have gender balanced slates for hiring and promotion at all levels of the pipeline?

  • Do you leverage external expertise for the recruitment of diverse talent to board and executive level?

  • Have you reviewed your recruitment strategies in line with your targets around a gender balanced workforce to determine if they are fit for purpose?

Strategic Leadership

Expand focus to include the development of non-traditional career pathways for strategic leadership to CEO and Chair levels.

  • Do you as a leadership team consider talent pathways to CEO outside of traditional functional pathways?

  • Do you communicate a clear tone from the top to employees on the pathway to leadership?