UK companies ‘quieter’ about diversity targets amid US pressure – Parker Review

UK companies may be starting to be “quieter” about their diversity initiatives amid pressure to scale back targets coming from the US, the chair of a Government-backed review has said, despite the number of ethnic minority leaders increasing.

The latest report from the Parker Review found that 13 chief executives on the UK’s FTSE 100 were of an ethnic minority background at the end of 2024, up from 12 in 2023.

Nearly all – 95 out of 100 – companies listed on the FTSE 100 have at least one ethnic minority director on their board.

However, this was lower for mid-sized companies listed on the FTSE 250, of which 82% met the target last year.

The rest – amounting to 46 businesses – either still had all-white boardrooms, or did not supply data for the survey – therefore missing the voluntary diversity target set by the review.

David Tyler, chair of the Parker Review, which is backed by the Government, said he does not see a “one and done attitude” when it comes to meeting targets – with most companies “recruiting on merit, and time and time again they’re recruiting people from ethnic minorities”.

Meanwhile, Mr Tyler said there had not been much change among UK firms in response to a cultural shift happening in the US, but that some firms may be “being a bit quieter” about their initiatives.

He told the PA news agency: “If you are a company that sells in the US, and a lot of FTSE 350 and private companies do… you are naturally thinking about this, and thinking: ‘Do I need to change?’

“If you felt that just by having a diversity target you would be barred from bidding for US government contracts, you would be thinking a bit more about what you do.

“The sense I’ve got so far is that companies don’t want to change, because they feel it is a good thing to do to have diversity, equality of opportunity for everybody, to run inclusive companies.

“But what they are perhaps doing is talking a bit less about it, or re-badging some of the names of the departments … or they might simply put it into the HR department.”

He added that it is “still fairly early on and there are some grey clouds on the horizon” when it comes to a potential shift in attitudes to diversity, equality and inclusion.