OUR REFRESHED APPROACH TO SUCCESSION AND TALENT Succession and talent management • The rapidly evolving external environment and The Committee is responsible for Board succession shifts in societal values present both challenges planning and monitoring Executive Board succession to and opportunities for the attraction, retention and ensure that the respective composition of these leadership development of talent. bodies enables us to embed and deliver our purpose ‘To • Building a more diverse and inclusive workforce is help create the joy of truly feeling at home. Now and for becoming more critical to our business success. the generations to come’; and that we have the capability to progress our ambitious growth strategy. We maintain Talent Committee a consistent recruitment approach across the business; Under the guidance of the Committee, the Talent our Board and Nominations Committee members have Committee comprising Executive Board members was oversight of, and follow, Dunelm’s People Strategy (see established in September 2020, led by the Chief Executive, pages 66 to 71) and its management of succession and Nick Wilkinson, and supported by our external consultant. talent. Its members include the People and Stores Director and other members of the Executive Board. Its purpose is One of the actions from our FY20 external Board evaluation to develop andimplement a more structured ‘Home of was to renew and increase the Board’s focus on succession Talent’ process, to ensure that there is a strong succession and talent management throughout the business, to ensure pipeline for our Executive Directors, members of the that we have a continuing pipeline of colleagues with Executive Board and throughout the business. This is a diverse backgrounds, skills and knowledge that we need to two- to three-year project designed to embed a mechanism deliver our strategy. that will become part of the regular People processes. The Under the guidance of the Committee, the Board process incorporates our ‘This is Me’ inclusion and diversity appointed a specialist external consultant to help us programme, which is referred to on page 128 in this Annual develop and deliver a more structured approach. We have Report. identified the following challenges: • Successful management of succession and talent is The Talent Committee reports at least twice a year to the needed to deliver transformation and growth as the Committee or the Board (in respect of colleagues), in business transitions to become a leading multichannel relation to governance and the Executive Board, and the retailer. Chief Executive updates the Board through his monthly report in respect of the wider colleague population. • Following a planned programme of people and role We agreed that this is an appropriate balance, given that changes at the Executive Board level, including a number matters relating to our workforce are whole-Board topics. of internal promotions, we need to embed these changes and rebuild the succession pipeline. DUNELM GROUP PLC ANNUAL REPORT & ACCOUNTS 2021 125 GOVERNANCESTRATEGIC REPORT FINANCIAL STATEMENTSOTHER INFORMATION