Vital board support under threat as governance professionals at risk of burnout

According to a poll by The Chartered Governance Institute UK & Ireland and governance recruitment specialist The Core Partnership, 82% of company secretaries have seen their workloads increase since the start of the coronavirus pandemic, with 49% stating that their workloads have increased significantly. Despite this, the permanent headcount in secretariat teams has only increased for 24% of company secretarial departments, which suggests a shortfall in the volume of talent required to deliver for organisations.

Jon Moores, Managing Director & Recruitment Partner at The Core Partnership says:

“We are witnessing a shortage of talent in the Company Secretarial and Governance market. There is strong lateral movement with a desire for Company Secretarial professionals to consider changing roles as well as a pull from a large number of newly created positions. This downward pressure on supply is fuelling significant salary rises particularly at the junior to mid-senior levels where there is the most demand.”

Peter Swabey, Policy and Research Director at the Institute adds:

“Governance professionals have seen their workload increase quite dramatically since the start of the pandemic, which is unsurprising given the increase in board and committee meetings that many organisations have introduced to deal with the fallout from the pandemic. Governance professionals perform a crucial advisory role to the board and it would be highly undesirable for this to be jeopardised because they are dealing with unmanageable workloads that put them at risk of burnout.”

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Notes to Editors:

1. The Chartered Governance Institute UK & Ireland is the qualifying and membership body for governance with over 125 years’ experience of educating and supporting governance professionals. With a Royal Charter purpose of leading ‘effective and efficient governance and administration of commerce, industry and public affairs’, we provide professional development, guidance and thought leadership, and work with regulators and policy makers to champion high standards.
   
   The Institute has divisions in Australia, Canada, Hong Kong/China, Malaysia, New Zealand, Singapore, Southern Africa, the United Kingdom and Zimbabwe. The division headquartered in London represents and supports members in the UK, Republic of Ireland, Crown Dependencies and associated territories, which include the Caribbean, sub-Saharan Africa, the Middle East, Mauritius and Sri Lanka. Website: www.cgi.org.uk 
2. The Core Partnership is a niche market recruitment consultancy working with Company Secretaries and their teams to advise on and resource their specialist interim and permanent manpower needs. With relevant professional backgrounds spanning back to the 1990s, The Core Partnership has a wealth of knowledge of the development and dimensions of the role of the Company Secretary. The team provides market advice on relevant qualifications and experience, conducts salary and benchmarking exercises and works throughout the UK and overseas recruiting at all levels to this specific discipline.
   Website: www.core-partnership.co.uk 
3. This poll is based on answers from 124 respondents across a variety of sectors, principally finance, commerce and industry, as well as charities.