Vedtag fra Erhvervsstyrelsen om kønsdiversitet på flere ledelsesniveauer trådte i kraft d. 1/1 2023. Det betyder skærpede regler for krav om måltal og politikker for kønsdiversitet i danske virksomheder.
De nye regler omfatter 2.387 store virksomheder, statslige virksomheder (herunder aktieselskaber) samt børsnoterede aktieselskaber (+313m DKK omsætning, +250 heltidsansatte, +156m DKK balancesum). Her er det nye mål for kønsneutrale virksomheder, af erhvervsstyrelsen, defineret som en 40/60 fordeling efter de juridisk bestemte køn.
Det er dermed heller ikke længere nok for moderselskabet at opstille måltal og politikker på baggrund af hele koncernen. Såfremt datterselskabet selv er omfattet af reglerne, skal disse opstille egne måltal og politikker, der skal sikre en kønsneutral ledelse fra øverste ledelseslag og to lag ned.
I samme anledning, foretages der en ændring i årsregnskabslovens § 99 b, hvor virksomheder der er omfattet af reglerne, fremadrettet skal angive statistik om nuværende kønsfordeling, måltal og politikker samt status på opfyldelsen af disse i ledelsesberetningen.
Nye tal fra Analyse & Tal viser, at 44% af bestyrelserne udelukkende består af mænd, hvor det kun er hvert femte bestyrelsesmedlem der er kvinde og hvert tiende bestyrelsesformand der er kvinde. Det betyder med andre ord, at knap halvdelen af Danmarks store virksomheder ingen kvinder har i bestyrelsen.
Hos Friisberg & Partners International har vi altid haft diversitet og softskills i sigtekornet i jagten på talent. Det stammer fra, at vi er en organisation med fokus på DEI, og at 60% af vores Man. Partner på verdensplan er kvinder. Vores grundholdning er at de bedst performende teams i et globaliseret marked, er dem med forskellige holdninger, perspektiver og kulturelle baggrunde. I 2022 har vi hos Friisberg & Partners Int. Denmark sourced lige knap 900 kandidater, hvoraf kønsfordelingen har været 50/50. Yderligere har vi i disse stillinger på topledelsesniveau placeret 45% kvinder og 55% mænd, hvilket bevidner om at vi gerne vil gå forrest, når det handler om at diversificere vores kunders talent pool.
Vi har på vores nylige 117’ende konference og dertilhørende Diversity Debate i København, bl.a. diskuteret; Hvordan virksomhederne selv kan fjerne barrierer, der hindrer kvinder i at søge topstillinger. Her er 3 overbevisende fund:
Yderligere, hvordan vi kan sikre at vores kunder bliver bedre til at tiltrække kvindeligt talent, nemlig gennem;
Som en del af et Europas ældste executive search firmaer, har vi i Friisberg & Partners International Denmark, redskaberne der skal til for proaktivt at hjælpe jeres virksomhed med at fremme diversiteten på ledelses og bestyrelsesniveau. Det foregår gennem at arbejde med realistiske indsatser for at udarbejde politikker, måltal og for at tiltrække diversificeret talent. Er din virksomhed blandt de 90% som har underrepræsentation af kvinder og ønsker I at ændre dette? Vi tør godt gå forrest, tør i?
Se vores udvalg af services på: https://friisberg.com/services/
Appendix:
https://www.scielo.br/j/cebape/a/WPJBgkq5ByTv7y9ZVsjBp5w/?lang=en&format=pdf
https://friisberg.com/balanced-boards-2/
https://www.ft.dk/samling/20211/lovforslag/L117/baggrund.htm
With 350 delegates from 50 countries meeting in Edinburgh, Scotland to consider and discuss developments in foreign direct investment, Friisberg was honoured to contribute.
Lorri Lowe, our UK Managing Partner, was invited to moderate the keynote panel discussion of the conference on Workforce Development & Global Competition for Talent. Her panel comprised experts from Lockheed Martin, IBM, Silicon Valley and and Auticon, a neurodiversity international social enterprise.
Andrew Guy, another UK Partner, was a panellist on the subject of Healthcare Infrastructure and Health Tech.
It was evident that the overriding consideration for investment promotion agencies throughout the world is the location availability and access to talent. Friisberg's representatives fielded numerous questions from the forum which was a cross section of the FDI community responsible for over $1.56trillion of cross border investment worldwide every year.
With over 45 years of as one of the preeminent international search firms, Friisberg is ideally placed to inform and support major investment with clients ranging from Fortune 500s to innovative tech start ups and scale ups.
In addition to mapping the personal, managerial and professional characteristics of candidates throughout the Search process, we can often be asked:
Recent scientific studies suggest that leadership is 30% genetic and 70% learned. These findings propose that leaders are made, not born. The conclusion of such studies is that both hold true: a person can be born with natural leadership abilities, and someone can learn how to be a good leader at work.
Are theory and practice the same? In reality, they are not. So why is it important, how does it work, which roles require which type of leadership and what is the added value in assessing an existing management team?
Driving a RV bus on a F1 circuit is as inefficient as going on a 3 week-long camping road trip with your family in a v16 GT Roadster. Choosing the right vehicle is essential and can determine your result in the race. The analogy applies when choosing between natural or learned leadership.
As I discussed the replacement of the CEO with one of my clients, the owner stated, “You know us, our values, our business. We simply want the best from the market. We want a Natural Born Leader.”.
I know my client well enough to have a clear picture of his autocratic view of leadership and weariness of critical questions about the role.
I’ve seen so many owners and C level managers make disastrous decisions - and all of them because there was not a single person on their team that dared question their strategy.
In my view, we must build the kind of relationship with our clients where we can have the courage to oppugn and articulate our opinion.
We must never be afraid to challenge our clients honestly and openly.
Bence Berkó
Senior Consultant, Budapest
On April 28-30th in Madrid, Partners convened for Friisberg's 116th Global Conference.
This conference had a particular focus on "Energy and Infrastructure" which involved dynamic presentations and discussions that addressed the future of the sector.
Our guest speakers, Rosa Mª Sanz García, Andreas Nauen, Florian Klein and Alberto Martín Rivals led a discussion on how the world of Energy has changed significantly during the last one to two decades including the “5-D” set of trends:
These already appear as the new normal in the objectives of the Executive levels in regional as well as global energy organizations.
It was especially useful to hear from a client in renewables, with operations in dozens of countries around the world, and discuss strategies for securing the specialist leadership talent they need.
We understand that today's shifting business climate commands constant growth and innovation. To face all the challenges, we must encourage our clients to INNOVATE and for this, the most important ingredient is PEOPLE.
Whilst the conference itself gave us the opportunity to extend our knowledge, it is always a great pleasure to meet with colleagues and friends from different countries.
When Jorgen Friisberg established our firm in 1977, he set the standard for a profession that always seeks to discover that rare talent - talent capable of launching businesses to new heights; talent that conditions future leaders for high endurance decision making, and talent to activate organizations to accelerate ahead of the competition.
We would like to thank everyone who attended our conference, and for our Spanish office who organised such a great event.
If you decide to recruit Board members on your own instead of turning to a professional executive firm, it will result in lost opportunities and lower turnover.
Furthermore, it is not enough simply to elect Board members and a Chair, based solely on their professional competences. It is often overlooked, but far more important, can be the personal competencies that the headhunter puts into sharp focus.
An analysis from the Centre for Corporate Governance at Copenhagen Business School indicates that companies can increase revenue by between 25-40% by having a diverse and professional Board. However, about half of the Boards in Denmark are occupied by family members - and that is an issue. The human nature of the owners is governed by the power of habit and the aspect that it is difficult to replace oneself or a family member. That is why we see Boards that are characterized by:
In recent years, we, Friisberg & Partners International Denmark, have experienced a greater interest from companies, who acknowledged that a professional Board can be a competent and strategic tool to increase the growth and development of a firm. The increased interest is supported, among others, by external advisors such as EY, who through their workshops and dialogues assure the owners about the advantages of having non-familial members on the Board.
When an owner has decided to strengthen the Board or when a current Board member quits, we are contacted to ensure the circle of potential candidates becomes wider and more diverse. The owner has often given some consideration to which professional competencies the company should have replaced in the Board of Directors. Typically, these competencies reflect the stand of the current situation of the company and partly the qualities and competencies the outgoing Board member possessed, and which are now to be replaced.
Having the Board’s professional competencies described is one of the prerequisites for any successful Board recruitment. The Board’s competence descriptions contribute positively to an overview of which competencies the Board possesses and which are desired in the future. However, this alone is not enough to achieve the successful recruitment of a new Chair or a new Board member. There are many different perceptions of what it takes for a Board to create value and therefore it is important to clarify what kind of value creation is needed – and in addition to this, to understand the human side of Board work.
We are of the opinion that effective Board work takes place in the interaction between different people. It is simply not just the interaction in the Boardroom that is significant. The dialogue with management, employees, local business partners, authorities, costumers, and suppliers etc. further contributes to the positive dialogue and the value creation. So, one is the professional skills such as financial literacy – another is the personal competencies which are most often overruled in the recruitment for a new Board member.
We work with six key competencies that the Board Chair or member must have to create value. Often, a Chair of the Board is elected from the existing Board, therefore the Chair's competencies are advantageous for all members of the Board.
The prerequisite for a good working relationship requires that one can speak the language and appreciate the concerns of management that every CEO faces. Moreover, having a sharp business judgement, deep understanding of the company’s strategy, how it operates and the human issues.
Many members are very adamant in their opinions, and it requires a special competence to be able to listen, understand and read between the lines when other members argue their positions. In addition, to be able to listen to, understand and support a CEO when the person expresses a reservation towards the Board’s decisions.
We have seen Boards where there are many strong personalities = alpha males/females (it can be both men and women), who are used to being top manager and thereby take their “director” behaviour into the boardroom. It inhibits the good, constructive, and idea-generating dialogue. Therefore, it is an important competence to hold back and to support that everyone around the table has their say.
It is incredibly important to have the ability to establish relationships and to be able to work with the DNA that the specific Board and management have. It should be easy and safe for the CEO to approach the Chair of the Board and have a confidential conversation.
The candidates of the Board of Directors must be in a place in life where they are in balance. That is where they have or have been successful in their careers and where they have no need to become No.1 or feel that they have yet to achieve a top position - that is, not dreaming of taking over the CEO’s office or longing for operational control. It is a high sense of self-worth, a “commitment” for the good of the company, without a trace of a personal agenda, which is something we especially ask about during the recruitment.
It is necessary to uncover how much time the Board member is ready to spend on Board work. It is far from certain that it is “merely” four meetings a year. There can easily be situations where the meeting frequency will be much greater, and you must be ready to spend the necessary time between meetings. Emergency situations can always arise where a Chair of the Board or the entire Board of Directors must step in at short notice. It can be crisis situations, and in such times, it is the personal perseverance and drive to overcome a crisis that is essential. All things considered, it is especially the ability to confront these stressful situations and to avoid the organization becoming paralyzed, if they occur, that is central.
Susanne Becker Mikkelsen,
Partner Denmark
The talent pool in some markets is highly competitive, with candidates receiving multiple offers simultaneously. This is, in part, related to the “Great Resignation”, where approximately 4 million Americans quit their jobs in July 2021 while there were still more than 10 million job openings.
A survey run from Linkedin in 2021 on more than 2,000 adults in the U.S. found that 47% said the coronavirus pandemic changed how they feel about their careers.
While the Great Resignation was mostly driven by mid-career employees, Executives have also been seeking new opportunities at faster than usual rates.
Europe appears to be experiencing a different type of crunch, driven by long-term demographic trends. Each year, the number of executives in the Baby Boomer generation are retiring at greater rates, while the next generation is considerably smaller. In fact, the pandemic has likely sped up this trend, with many Baby Boomers either being forced out of the workforce or leaving voluntarily in order to maximize their quality of life.
There is a shift in generations in the labour force, including the leadership roles.
Voluntary resignation trend in Italy 2017-2021 (Labour Statistics Office)
With new challenges and rapidly changing market conditions, organizations need to redefine leadership roles in their organization. That can range from areas of responsibilities and structure, but it is as much about the soft skills a leader brings to the table as it is about their industry knowledge and expertise.
Former Best Buy CEO, Hubert Joly , interviewed by an MIT Research in January 2021, observes, “All of us have to rewire ourselves for a new way of leading. What’s the purpose of work? I’ve been CEO for 15 years, and the initial part of my time as CEO was much easier because it was purely about the business. But now it’s broader”
The same research reports that the 72% of respondents of more than 4,000 managers and executives interviewed , strongly agreed that it is very important to them to work for an organization with a purpose they believe in, but only 49% strongly agreed that they believed in their organization’s purpose.
They require a new executive’s mind set and leadership style:
| Profit | Purpose & Values |
| Hierarchical Pyramids | Network of Teams |
| Business knowledge | Digital & Business Disruption |
| Directive Leadership | Supportive Leadership |
| Rules & Control | Trust and Self Control |
| Business Hours at office | No boundaries home/work |
Donatella Paschina
Associate Partner, Milan
Christmas is inching ever closer, although we know that this year Christmas and New Year celebrations will not be the same due to the impact of Covid-19.
It is during the holidays that many people re-evaluate their life choices. Throughout the year there are clear peaks and troughs in the number of candidates open to new opportunities and taking this into consideration when hiring can be a great advantage.
Friisberg & Partners recommends to their clients that they consider these two questions:
Almost 25% [1] of people actively search for new roles in January, however there is typically a corresponding increase in job postings. The fact that many people are more relaxed during downtime means that 75% of the market are more passively open to talking with Headhunters about opportunities - and then being much more easily persuaded to leave their current role.
Susanne Becker Mikkelsen, Managing Partner of Friisberg & Partners International Denmark states,
“We often find that many Chief Executives and HR Directors are very busy at the beginning of the new year when new goals and plans are being launched, precisely when resources and time to contact potential candidates are scarce. We always ensure that assignments are carried out professionally, especially at busy times and an Executive Search firm can be critical to success. We can contact and make potential candidates aware of a vacancy, and ensure that candidate becomes interested in discussing it further."
Even if you feel you have a stable and secure workforce, we recommend reading the 2019 Epinion study [2] wherein a thorough analysis of the market showed that the four most common reasons for people taking on new work challenges are:
There are of course no hard and fast rules, however we can offer advice to make sure you’re taking the right path. It all begins with hiring the right person for the right position, but besides recruiting the best people for your company, you also have to nurture an engage your talent to stop them from leaving.
We can help to ensure that your organization is worthy of the talent it has and the talent it needs, and that you are motivating your people to ensure their ongoing commitment.
Josephine Lindhart
Friisberg & Partners International Denmark
Gartner has identified 5 actions for CHROs in its recent publication "How to Build a Resilient and Responsive Organization":
[ Go to full source report on Gartner.com ]
