Employers will face significant resourcing problems as they try to implement
the recommendations from the Higgs review on non-executive directors.
This will be the message from recruitment expert Betty Thayer, chief
executive of Exec-appointments.com, at an Institute of Directors conference
next week.
The independent review into the role of directors by Derek Higgs published
last month concluded that the pool of people sitting on UK boards should be
widened and that half of company directors should be non-executive.
Thayer will warn companies that they need a radical re-think of the criteria
for appointing directors if they are to fulfil their new obligations.
She will argue that introducing the recommendations would require a major
cultural shift, with directors moving away from the ‘old boy network’ attitude.
"Board members will have to be much more open-minded and consider
appointing younger people who can bring valuable experience of modern business
practice such as new technology and e-commerce," she said.
