British retailers need to go further to improve diversity in their leadership, with women and ethnic minorities still underrepresented, a new report found.
(Bloomberg) — British retailers need to go further to improve diversity in their leadership, with women and ethnic minorities still underrepresented, a new report found.
Women make up more than half the overall workforce in retail, but there’s a “startling lack” of them in senior positions, according to the study by executive search firm The MBS Group and the British Retail Consortium.
Out of more than 200 businesses surveyed, only 13 have female chairs and 41 have female chief executive officers or chief financial officers. About 30% of retail boards are still all white, the report shows.
Retailers have made only slight progress on gender diversity over the past year and efforts on ethnic diversity have slowed significantly, the report found. The industry is one of the largest employers in the UK and is largely led by white men.
“The progress we’ve made so far hasn’t sufficiently shifted the dial,” said Helen Dickinson, CEO of the BRC.
There have been some advances since 2021, when the BRC and MBS first undertook the survey. Some 84 companies including Tesco Plc, Greggs Plc, Boots and Burberry Group Plc have signed up to the consortium’s diversity and inclusion charter, up from around 45 retailers two years ago. The charter tracks the progress retailers make on a number of key metrics, such as eliminating bias in recruitment processes.
The findings come after a recent sexual assault scandal at the Confederation of British Industry nearly led to the demise of the lobby group. It also claimed a top executive at one of Britain’s biggest retailers. Tesco Chair John Allan, who was president of the CBI from 2018 to 2020, is formally stepping down this week after allegations of inappropriate behavior toward women. Allan has said all but one of the claims are “baseless.”
“There is a lot of momentum behind the recognition that people should feel comfortable to be able to speak out when there are issues they’re facing within their workplaces,” Dickinson said.
The report found that many businesses are trying to keep women in the workplace by redesigning their policies on parental leave or introducing support for women experiencing menopause symptoms.
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There are notable female leaders within retail, including Katie Bickerstaffe, co-CEO at Marks & Spencer Group Plc who was paid £2.2 million ($2.8 million) in the year to April 1 while working a four-day week. John Lewis Partnership Plc chair Sharon White has been leading a high stakes turnaround at the department store chain.
Greggs CEO Roisin Currie is pushing further with diversity networks in the business. The sandwich seller’s stores display posters explaining zero tolerance of harassment thanks to a suggestion from the company’s ethnicity group, Currie said in the report.
Still, only 38% of board roles in retail are held by women, lagging the FTSE 350 index with 40% representation. The proportion of ethnically diverse leaders on retail boards is only 10%.
“Change is not happening fast enough,” said Elliott Goldstein, managing partner at MBS. “There remains a long way to go until retail leadership properly reflects the customers it serves.”
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