Board diversity

Key points The Board supports greater diversity on the Board. The Board seeks grower input on how it could encourage further diversity. The Board does not currently support the introduction of diversity quotas or targets due to the democratic election process of the  co-operative.  Download information sheet

Current Situation

The Board is committed to workplace diversity, recognising the many and varied benefits that both gender and broader dimensions of diversity that reflect our community, bring to an organisation. 

The Board also supports management in its endeavours to achieve and maintain a diverse and inclusive workforce at all levels of CBH.

Among employees, CBH aims to achieve 30 per cent gender participation at every level of the business by 2025.

Discussions continue across all business sectors on how best to achieve diversity in workplaces, including among boards. 

Many of our co-operative peers believe that board composition should reflect the diversity of membership, and that boards have a role to play to promote diversity.

Quota systems or targets are options being considered by some organisations to ensure boards represent the diversity of membership. For example, the Australian Securities Exchange has a target of 30 per cent female representation on boards of the top 300 companies. However, there is no widespread acceptance of this approach.

None of our co-operative peers reviewed currently use targets for board diversity related to age or gender. 

The Board supports

Based on the insights gained through the peer review phase, the Board supports:

• continuing to recognise the value that diversity brings to the co-operative and promoting an environment that supports diversity including of gender and age.
• fostering female leadership in the grain industry and at CBH through our capacity building programs and key partnerships.
• continuing to encourage nominations from diverse growers through partnerships with key groups, and creating new forums for younger and female growers to learn more about CBH leadership positions.

For growers to consider

While noting the current position on diversity targets, the Board would like growers’ views on how CBH could further support and encourage gender diversity so more women stand for election to a Member Director position. 

Questions

• How important is greater diversity on the Board to you?
• What activities should we support to achieve greater diversity?