Of the 595 board members of companies in the 50 largest quoted companies in the UK, Ortus found only five came from a HR background, meaning less than 1% of the UK's most senior executives have expertise in HR.
Stephen Menko, director of Ortus said: "It's astonishing that while HR directors are pivotal to an organisation's growth and long-term success, they are almost completely absent at board level in some of the UK's largest companies.
"The level of underrepresentation of HR professionals in the top jobs is even more surprising when one considers the importance of their role. Any company is only as good as the people it employs and HR is on the front line when it comes to sourcing, engaging and retaining employees who can take their companies forward. Failure to look after the HR functions of a business have serious consequences, but there is an ongoing sense of prejudice in the UK that HR is less strategic than other support functions. It's a very misguided way of thinking".
