More than two-thirds of chief HR officers (CHROs) in the FTSE 100 are women, but most are the only female in the senior executive team.
The findings come from Russell Reynolds Associates’ Global CHRO Turnover Index for the second quarter of 2024.
Its analysis shows that 68% of FTSE 100 CHRO appointments are women, and globally the top HR role has the highest representation of women in any senior executive role.
Just a quarter of FTSE CHROs that have been appointed since 2018 were hired alongside female chief executives or chief financial officers. Of 80 changes to CHROs in the past six years, 54 of them were women.
Globally, only 9% of CEO and 21% of CFO appointments are women, according to the Index, which tracks the appointment and departure of CHROs in large listed companies in Australia, Canada, the EU, Hong Kong, India, Japan, Singapore, the UK and the US.
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The second quarter of this year saw the lowest turnover of CHROs for five years, it found, suggesting that boards are looking for greater levels of stability as many countries face elections and political instability.
In Australian listed companies, all new CHROs this year were women, while women occupied half of the new CHRO spots in the Euronext 100. In Asian indexes, however, the Nikkei 225 has only appointed one woman CHRO so far this year, and six men.
Anna Penfold, a consultant at Russell Reynolds Associates, said it was “encouraging” to see more women take on leadership roles.
“It is a credit to the pipeline of talent the HR profession has created and a pattern we need to see replicated beyond just gender diversity.
“However, the benefits of gender diversity also need to be felt across the entire leadership team. Too often, the CHRO is the sole woman’s voice in the senior executive team. The CHRO is an increasingly complex function and a key ally for the CEO, but we must not let progress in board diversity come purely from one profession,” Penfold added.
During the first half of 2024, 61 new CHROs were appointed globally, of which only three were in FTSE 100 companies. The firm said thi was the lowest half-year appointments figure in five years.
Of those that were appointed, more than half (56%) were external hires and 52% had CHRO experience. In the first half of 2023, 57% of new CHRO appointments were first timers, according to Russell Reynolds.
Penfold said: “Competition for the best and most experienced CHROs has increased dramatically over the last five years as cultural, political and regulatory issues have spread across the entire C-suite agenda.
“CHROs today are a key ally for the CEO in both managing complex internal restructurings and responding to unpredictable external shocks. The chemistry between CEO and CHRO is vitally important and CHROs are often the first to depart or arrive when new CEOs are appointed.”
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