Sims Limited, a global leader in sustainability and an enabler of the circular economy, announced its support for industry super fund HESTA's 40:40 Vision to increase the proportion of women in senior leadership across Australia's largest listed companies to at least 40 per cent by 2030.

The number of women in leadership has flatlined with just 30 ASX300 companies having at least 40 per cent women in executive leadership in 2020, according to Chief Executive Women's latest census on ASX300 senior executives.

Research clearly demonstrates organisations that set quantitative composition targets for executive leadership are more likely to achieve a balanced representation of men and women at this level.

Workplace Gender Equality Agency and the Bankwest Curtin Economics Centre research shows that an increase in the share of female 'top-tier' managers by 10 percentage points or more led to a 6.6 per cent increase in the market value of Australian ASX-listed companies, which is worth the equivalent of A$104.7 million.

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By signing up to 40:40 Vision, Sims Limited is pledging its commitment to achieving gender balance by 2030 and putting diversity targets and plans in place to drive and embed this change across the company. This will include:

• Pledging to achieve gender balance (40:40:20) in executive leadership by 2030;
• Declaring medium and long-term gender targets;
• Making plans public to employees, shareholders, investors and the wider business community; and
• Reporting annually on how they are tracking against targets.

"Sims Limited recognises, and has been committed to, the business and social importance of achieving gender diversity," said Alistair Field, CEO and managing director at Sims Limited. "In the fiscal year 2022, two years earlier than expected, we met our goal of having 25% of our female employees in executive and senior leadership roles, and we also reached gender balance on our Board of Directors. Participating in the 40:40 Vision is just one more way to show that we are committed to these goals, as well as our goal of closing the gender pay gap and being open about our progress.

"We look forward to working collaboratively with the 40:40 Vision Steering Committee and using this as a platform for sharing challenges, innovation and excellence in practice," said Brad Baker, global chief human resources officer at Sims Limited. "In this way, we can play our part in highlighting the work of Australian companies that are leading the way in gender diversity at the executive level and encouraging more companies to follow this lead."

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Source: PRNewswire