Companies are making “unprecedented progress” on advancing racial equity, according to As You Sow’s Tuesday report on engagements with U.S. issuers.
After engaging with 41 companies on improving racial justice and workplace equity this year, As You Sow noted that the majority of companies were willing and ready to engage to address shareholder concerns.
The shareholder advocate filed shareholder proposals at 26 companies concerning racial equity this season. Of these 26, 15 companies responded positively to its efforts following the initial proposal filing and a further eight took action following escalated engagement.
Of the 16 companies targeted, Berkshire Hathaway, Charter Communications, and UPS, were unwilling to change their programs and policies, As You Sow said.
Notably, As You Sow reached an agreement with consumer goods giant Procter & Gamble (P&G) this year to disclose recruitment and retention data by gender for its global operations and by race in the U.S. by the end of 2024. Nike also made a similar agreement with the shareholder advocate.
According to Insightia Voting data, 82 proposals seeking diversity-related reporting went to a vote at annual meetings in the U.S. this year, winning 25.1% average support. In comparison, investors only filed 26 of these proposals in 2021, winning 23.2% average support.