Is there a need for a ‘part‐timer’ in your boardroom?

With 25 per cent of Britain's top companies not using non‐executive directors — and a further 65 per cent having only one or two — it's hardly surprising that this job title is virtually unknown in smaller, unquoted companies. Resistance may stem partly from the suspicion that the non‐exec role is a guise for the Old Pals' Act, but there is a more legitimate function, as Barrie Pearson explains.