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Perspectives

Diversity, equity, and inclusion

Board Practices Quarterly, September 2020

By Natalie Cooper, Bob Lamm, and Randi Val Morrison

Deloitte and the Society for Corporate Governance are pleased to announce the collaborative launch of the Board Practices Quarterly, a new series of periodic reports based upon brief surveys of Society members. The Quarterly replaces our long-standing Board Practices Report to bring you insights and benchmarking data more frequently.

 

The landmark events of 2020 surrounding systemic racism and racial equality have led many companies and their boards to consider their practices related to diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI). For some, the events present an opportunity to reevaluate and enhance current practices; for others, they may prompt the exploration and implementation of actions and practices to advance DEI, within and outside of their organizations, for the first time.

This inaugural “Board Practices Quarterly” explores some ways in which companies and boards have responded to these recent events and other management- and board- focused practices pertaining to DEI. It presents findings based on an August 2020 survey of members, representing more than 200 companies, of the Society for Corporate Governance. We would expect the findings to evolve over time, particularly as they pertain not only to corporate governance, but also to a societal matter, where calls for action and change appear to be ongoing and growing.

Findings

The findings below pertain to all companies surveyed. Respondents, primarily corporate secretaries, in-house counsel, outside counsel, and other governance professionals, represent 91 percent public companies and nine percent private companies of varying sizes of market capitalizations, annual revenues, and industries.Where applicable, commentary has been included to highlight differences among respondent demographics. The actual number of responses for each question is provided.

Download complete findings as well as results by respondent demographic in boxes above.

1 Public company respondent market capitalization as of December 2019: 43% large cap (>$10 billion); 47% mid cap ($700 million to $10 billion); and 10% small cap (<$700 million). Private company respondent annual revenue as of December 2019: 59% large (>$1 billion); 29% midsize ($250 million to $1 billion); and 6% small (<$250 million).

Respondent industry breakdown: 33% energy, resources, and industrials; 24% consumer; 24% financial services; 10% technology, media, and telecommunications; 7% life sciences and health care; and 1% other.

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