Document Type
Report
Abstract
The 2019 HR@Moore Survey of Chief HR Officers examined a number of aspects of the Board of Directors (BOD). This report describes the results of this survey. We find that 64% of the companies surveyed have an independent Chair of the board with the other 36% having the CEO also hold the Chair title. CHROs do not evaluate boards as being particularly effective regarding the major tasks entailed in CEO succession. We found that responsibility for CEO succession is most often housed with the board chair/ lead director (rather than a committee), both as an ongoing process and as the decision becomes more imminent. Respondents were relatively equally likely to suggest that CEO succession responsibility lies with the Compensation committee and the Nominating and Governance committees for the ongoing CEO succession process, but as it becomes imminent, Compensation committees seemingly transfer responsibility to board chairs/lead directors. We found that women comprise approximately 28% of board members, with a maximum representation of 50%. Most CHROs reported that women directors do not face unique challenges, but when they do, they do not have equal influence or “voice” within the board relative to their male counterparts. Similarly, a large number of CHROs reported that their companies do not have unique obstacles to attracting women directors, but an almost equal number noted the lack of supply and consequent competition for qualified women directors. CHROs reported the cohesion and diversity/ inclusion climate of boards using the same items as used in past reports on the Executive Leadership Team (ELT). The results show that boards tend to score higher regarding diversity/inclusion climate and lower on cohesion, suggesting that the independent nature of board members requires them to appreciate and incorporate the diverse perspectives of other members, but not necessarily to work well as a team. Finally, we found that almost all boards conduct assessments every two years, and these usually consist of surveys asking them to assess themselves and the board’s functioning overall.
Publication Date
2019
Disciplines
Business
Copyright
© 2019, University of South Carolina
Publication Info
2019.