Sustainability leader joined other ASX300 companies and investors in supporting ambition to have cognitive diversity across senior leadership teams –

SYDNEY, Dec. 4, 2022 /CNW/ -- Sims Limited, a global leader in sustainability and an enabler of the circular economy, today 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 percent by 2030.

The number of women in leadership has flatlined with just 30 ASX300 companies having at least 40 percent women in executive leadership in 2020, according to Chief Executive Women's latest census on ASX300 senior executives.¹

Research² clearly demonstrates organisations that set quantitative composition targets for executive leadership are more likely to achieve balanced representation of men and women at this level.

Workplace Gender Equality Agency and the Bankwest Curtin Economics Centre research³ shows that an increase in the share of female 'top-tier' managers by 10 percentage points or more led to a 6.6 percent increase in the market value of Australian ASX-listed companies, which is worth the equivalent of A$104.7 million.

By signing up to 40:40 Vision, Sims Limited is pledging its commitment to achieve 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 fiscal year 2022, we met our goal to have 25 percent of our female employees in executive and senior leadership roles – two years earlier than initially anticipated – and achieve gender balance on our Board of Directors. Participating in the 40:40 Vision is just another way of furthering this commitment and ensuring that we continue to hold ourselves accountable to these targets, as well as our target to close the gender pay gap and be transparent 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."

To learn more about Sims Limited's commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion, visit https://www.simsltd.com/life-at-sims/dei.

About Sims Limited 

Founded in 1917, Sims Limited is a global leader in sustainability and a key enabler of the circular economy whose 4,400 employees operate from more than 200 facilities in 15 countries. As the parent company of Sims Metal, a global leader in metal recycling; Sims Lifecycle Services, a provider of circular solutions for technology; and Sims Resource Renewal, an emerging leader in renewable energy; our purpose, create a world without waste to preserve our planet, is what drives us to constantly innovate and offer new solutions in the circular economy for consumers, businesses, governments and communities around the world. The company's ordinary shares are listed on the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX: SGM) and its American Depositary Shares are quoted on the Over-the-Counter market in the United States (USOTC: SMSMY). For more information on how the company is driving sustainable change, visit www.simsltd.com. 

¹ Chief Executive Women ASX300 Senior Executive Census 2020 Report
² https://www.asx.com.au/documents/asx-compliance/asx-corp-governance-kpmg-diversity-report.pdf
³ https://www.wgea.gov.au/newsroom/media-releases/more-women-at-the-top-proves-better-for-business