Over half (52%) of CEOs feel their organisation is falling behind when it comes to diversity in their workforce with 37% of chief HR officers agreeing, according to research from The IN Group.

To rectify this, 76% of executives confirmed they have a diversity and inclusion strategy in place in their approach to hiring technology talent into the business, the research revealed.

However, 38% of companies believe that they are falling behind as a whole for diversity, particularly in the United States, where 48% of companies acknowledge this issue.

This issue of diversity is particularly reflected within technology teams, with a further 38% saying they were falling behind.

According to a report from BCS, it will take 283 years before women make up an equal share of the tech workforce, assuming the current trends continue without intervention.

Alongside diversity, other top priorities on the boardroom agenda include sustainability, cyber and AI with many companies realigning their strategies in response to these concerns.

Encouragingly, 73% of executives feel their organisations prioritise sustainability as a key factor of their technology strategy, with many looking to reduce carbon emissions to lessen their impact on the environment.

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Rich Lewis Jones, CEO, Sigma Labs: “It’s not just about traditional ways to bring people into a business – top performing talent exists throughout society and critically can be catalysed through education, training and belief. Winning this battle means higher loyalty, greater commitment, skill sets you can define, greater team engagement and of course, higher ROI on your talent.”

Prof Alexeis Garcia Perez, Professor of digital business and society, Aston Business School, commented: “Despite successes in strategy implementation for tech talent recruitment, there remains a notable percentage of executives who believe their companies are falling behind in fostering a diverse workforce.

“This disconnect points to the complexities of implementing effective diversity and inclusion policies and the need for more focused efforts in this area.”