Retention Anxiety & International Directors
Welcome to this week's news brief.
Directors are?growing increasingly concerned?that their company's top brass could cut and run, according to a new survey from?Farient Advisors?and Corporate Board Member.
Some 59% of directors polled said it was moderately or very likely that a top-10 exec could depart "voluntarily and unexpectedly" in the next year. That's up from 50% last year who said the same.
The stat explains why boards are also increasingly willing to grant retention bonuses to execs, even if it means risking investor ire and getting a low say-on-pay vote. According to the respondents, 65% said they would do it or that they already have.
"Retention is a challenging issue for most boards," one source told Agenda. "While the Great Resignation hit executive roles a little bit less than it hit the broader population, it certainly made boards nervous about their ability to keep the best talent."
All Aboard!
The percentage of new directors who have international experience or who come from outside the U.S. has?surged over the past two years. Nom-gov committees are reworking onboarding programs to acclimatize directors who may be unfamiliar with U.S. regulations and governance norms — and who may live in different time zones and have language barriers — to tap into valuable cross-cultural expertise.
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