At PeopleReturn, we know time is valuable. Our platform streamlines the extraction, organization, and synthesis of information, so your team can focus on analysis, insights, and data-informed decisions.
We recently partnered with DCI Consulting on an in-depth, three-part blog series that explores trends in corporate DEI communications and workforce representation. Part 1 and Part 2 analyzes how S&P 100 companies use their websites to communicate DEI commitments through various sections and the messaging of DEI philosophy, and Part 3 examines how the placement and focus of DEI messaging influence diversity outcomes and reflect the organization’s commitment to inclusion.
And Reuters featured our data in a story out this week discussing the increased disclosure of climate and social data at US companies:
Many U.S. companies have stepped up reporting on environmental and social matters in recent years even with sustained pressure from conservative politicians, data reviewed by Reuters shows.
The trend shows the importance investors and regulators now place on environmental, social and governance (ESG) issues, analysts said, amid rapid global warming and shifting workforce demographics. Some political conservatives call the attention misplaced or worry the disclosures could give activists leverage to force companies to make unnecessary changes.
The share of S&P 500 companies making workforce data by race and gender public rose to 82.6% as of Sept. 1 from 5.3% in 2019, according to PeopleReturn, which tracks diversity data for investors, consulting firms and corporate clients.
Despite the headlines and talk of anti-ESG and anti-DEI backlash, the trend of increased transparency and disclosure of diversity and human capital data continues. Our transparency score, measuring the % of metrics companies disclose as a share of what they are expected to disclose climbed slightly this year to 45.78 from 45.08 last year, and up from 33.93 in 2020 for the S&P 500. For small and mid-cap companies, the upward trend is only more pronounced.
Lowe’s – one of the targets of conservative activists earlier this year, recently published both a responsibility report and a standalone DEI report, and increased the amount of workforce data they include vs. prior years. And Microsoft, despite the headlines that it gutted its DEI department, recently published its 7th annual Diversity & Inclusion report, with more granular workforce representation data than ever before.
As we have said before, companies continue to shift how they communicate and tell their story around their diversity and human capital strategies and progress, but nearly all large companies continue to renew their commitments to increased transparency and granularity when it comes to reporting.
What we’re reading:
- Fortune 500 C-Suite Snapshot: Profiles in Functional Leadership (Spencer Stuart)
- Despite DEI Backlash, Nearly 60% of US Workers Support Current DEI Policies (The Conference Board) and Pulse on America – Corporate DEI and ESG initiatives (The Weber Shandwick Collective)
- These White Male CEOs Got Wealthier From Diversity-Linked Pay (Bloomberg)
- A New Business on Wall Street: Defending Against D.E.I. Backlash (NY Times)
- The Case for Multigenerational Corporate Boards (AllianceBernstein)
- Should Your Next CEO Come from Your Board? (Harvard Business Review)
- Corporate DEI may be under attack, but S&P 500 companies with diverse boards perform better (Fast Company)
- Gender Diversity in the C-suite: Women’s representation in the 2024 S&P 100 (Russel Reynolds)
- Pushing Corporate Diversity More Accepted Than Politicized ‘DEI’ (Bloomberg Law)
- Boeing Dismantles DEI Team as Pressure Builds on New CEO (Bloomberg)