Amazon Releases Workforce Demographic Data Following Push by Comptroller Stringer and NYC Funds
(New York, NY) – Amazon has publicly released the company’s EEO-101 workforce demographic data for 2019 and 2020 following a concerted push by New York City Comptroller Scott M. Stringer and three New York City Retirement Systems. The Consolidated EEO-1 Report is the “gold standard” for diversity disclosure and will enable investors to evaluate the performance of portfolio companies in terms of their ability to hire, retain, and promote employees of color and women. Amazon last released its EEO-1 report in 2016.
“This information is critical for transparency and shareholders,” said Comptroller Stringer. “Amazon’s public disclosure of its workforce demographic data will help investors better understand the company’s labor practices, identify areas for improvement, and benchmark diversity performance. The release of this data brings us another step closer to ensuring companies’ commitment to equity and diversity, but we have more to do. We will continue to hold corporate America accountable and set the tone for EEO-1 disclosure across U.S. public companies.”
As of July 31, 2021, the New York City Pension Funds’ have $2.38 billion invested in Amazon.
In July 2020, Comptroller Stringer and the New York City Employees’ Retirement System, the Teachers Retirement System of the City of New York and the New York City Board of Education Retirement System called on S&P 100 companies to match their public statements in support of racial equality, diversity and inclusion with concrete action by publicly disclosing their annual EEO-1 workforce demographic data. Prior to the launch of the Comptroller’s campaign, only 14 S&P 100 companies disclosed their Consolidated EEO-1 Report. The Comptroller and three NYC funds subsequently submitted shareowner proposals to two initially unresponsive companies, and to a third company as a continuation of an historical previous engagement. As of today, a substantial majority of S&P 100 companies disclose, or have committed to disclose their EEO-1 data, including 67 S&P companies that have begun or committed to disclose as a result of the push made by Comptroller Stringer and the NYC Funds:
- 3M Company
- Abbott Laboratories
- AbbVie Inc.
- Altria Group, Inc.
- Amazon.com, Inc.
- American International Group, Inc.
- American Tower Corporation (REIT)
- Amgen Inc.
- AT&T Inc.
- Biogen Inc.
- BlackRock, Inc.
- Bristol-Myers Squibb Company
- Capital One Financial Corporation
- Caterpillar Inc.
- Chevron Corporation
- Citigroup Inc.
- Comcast Corporation
- ConocoPhillips
- CVS Health Corporation
- Dow Inc.
- Duke Energy Corporation
- DuPont de Nemours, Inc.
- Eli Lilly and Company
- Exelon Corporation
- FedEx Corporation
- Ford Motor Company
- General Motors Company
- Gilead Sciences, Inc.
- International Business Machines Corporation
- Johnson & Johnson
- JPMorgan Chase & Co.
- Lockheed Martin Corporation
- Lowe’s Companies, Inc.
- Mastercard Incorporated
- McDonald’s Corporation
- Medtronic plc
- Merck
- MetLife, Inc.
- Mondelez International, Inc.
- Morgan Stanley
- Netflix, Inc.
- NIKE, Inc.
- PayPal Holdings, Inc.
- PepsiCo, Inc.
- Pfizer Inc.
- QUALCOMM Incorporated
- Starbucks Corporation
- Target Corporation
- The Allstate Corporation
- The Boeing Company
- The Charles Schwab Corp
- The Coca-Cola Company
- The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc.
- The Home Depot, Inc.
- The Kraft Heinz Company
- The Southern Company
- The Walt Disney Company
- U.S. Bancorp
- Union Pacific Corporation
- United Parcel Service, Inc.
- UnitedHealth Group Incorporated
- Verizon Communications Inc.
- Visa Inc.
- Walmart Inc.
- Wells Fargo & Company
In December 2020, Comptroller Stringer and the Retirement Systems submitted shareholder proposals requesting EEO-1 disclosure. In their proposals, the Comptroller and the Systems request disclosure of the Consolidated EEO-1 Report itself, which provides the raw number for each employment category. This disclosure gives investors and the public a comprehensive breakdown of a company’s U.S. workforce by race, ethnicity, and gender according to 10 employment categories, including, importantly, senior management, defined to incorporate individuals within two reporting levels of the CEO. The NYC Funds’ proposals won an overwhelming majority of the vote for workforce demographic disclosures by race, gender, and ethnicity at DuPont and Union Pacific. The proposal received 84% of the vote at Dupont and 86% at Union Pacific, which have since disclosed or committed to disclose, respectively. These results prove that many institutional investors are looking to companies to disclose more quantitative and comparable data when it comes to their workforce.
In addition to Comptroller Stringer, the participating New York City Retirement Systems’ trustees are:
New York City Employees’ Retirement System (NYCERS): Mayor Bill de Blasio’s Representative, John Adler (Chair); New York City Public Advocate Jumaane Williams; Borough Presidents: Gale Brewer (Manhattan), Donovan Richards (Queens), Eric Adams (Brooklyn), James Oddo (Staten Island), and Ruben Diaz, Jr. (Bronx); Henry Garrido, Executive Director, District Council 37, AFSCME; Tony Utano, President Transport Workers Union Local 100; Gregory Floyd, President, International Brotherhood of Teamsters, Local 237.
Teachers’ Retirement System (TRS): Mayor Bill de Blasio’s Appointee, John Adler; Chancellor’s Representative, Lindsey Oates, New York City Department of Education; Natalie Green Giles; and Debra Penny (Chair), Thomas Brown and David Kazansky, all of the United Federation of Teachers.
Board of Education Retirement System (BERS): Schools Chancellor Meisha Porter; Mayoral: Isaac Carmignami, Natalie Green Giles, Vanessa Leung, Gary Linnen, Lori Podvesker, Shannon Waite, Eric C. Henry, Kathy Park Price, Larian Angelo; Thomas Sheppard (CEC); Michael Kraft (Manhattan BP), Debrorah Dillingham (Queens BP), April Chapman (Brooklyn BP), Geneal Chacon (Bronx BP) and Jaclyn Tacoronte (Staten Island BP); and employee members John Maderich of the IUOE Local 891 and Donald Nesbit of District Council 37, Local 372.
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