The EU passed a new law setting targets for gender balance on corporate boards by 2026. Many companies will need significant culture change and renewed focus on diversity, equity & inclusion to build a reliable pipeline of executive talent to meet these new requirements.

Trusted Insights for What's Ahead™

• The new law signals a determination among governments and regulators to ramp up the pressure for gender balance on boards and more transparency of selection processes. The mandate gives companies an opportunity to revise recruitment and retention practices to build more diverse talent pipelines.
• Building a reliable talent pipeline to meet the mandated board diversity targets will require culture change for many companies—this will take time and effort. Senior leaders will need to act as role models and shapers of company culture.
• Many companies are likely to find some level of internal resistance when it comes to taking action on gender balance. Finding ways to preempt, understand and work with this is a necessary part of an organization’s approach.
• DEI leaders must ensure the business has the data to demonstrate compliance with targets and standards. DEI leaders may need to partner with data analytics teams to devise more sophisticated processes for monitoring, measuring, and reporting on numbers and experiences by gender.

Interested in more on the topic? Read Part 1: Advancing Gender Balance in the C-suite and on Boards