Comptroller Stringer and Three New York City Retirement Systems Call on 67 S&P 100 Companies Who Issued Supportive Statements on Racial Equality to Publicly Disclose the Composition of their Workforce by Race, Ethnicity and Gender

(New York, NY) — Today, New York City Comptroller Scott M. Stringer, on behalf of the New York City Employees’ Retirement System, Teachers Retirement System of the City of New York and New York City Board of Education Retirement System (the “Systems”), sent letters to the CEOs of 67 S&P 100 companies calling on them to match their recent statements, affirming their commitments to racial equality and diversity and inclusion, with concrete action by publicly disclosing their annual EEO-1 Report data. 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. The letter urges CEOs to take action where they can make a direct impact – within their own companies.

“It is not enough to condemn racism in words; systemic change in corporate America will require concrete action and accountability,” said Comptroller Stringer. “We’re asking companies that issued statements in support of racial justice to walk the walk and publicly disclose the demographics of their employees by race, gender, and ethnicity – including in their leadership and senior management. This information is crucial for shareowners to better understand diversity and workforce practices and identify areas for growth. Companies are stronger and deliver better value when they are inclusive and representative, and the CEOs of these leading companies should take direct action to match their words.”

For the focus list of companies, click here. For a sample letter, click here.

The letters cite the need for the aforementioned companies to publicly release data that would enable investors to measure the success of their diversity and inclusion practices. It will also facilitate board oversight of the company’s human capital management practices, which is fundamental to the creation of long-term shareowner value. Companies were asked to provide a written commitment by August 30, 2020 to publicly disclose their EEO-1 Report effective upon its next submission to the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) in 2021 or risk potential submission of shareholder proposals or opposition to the election of director nominees standing for re-election at the next annual shareholder meeting.

Specifically, the Comptroller and the Systems requested the Consolidated EEO-1 Report itself, which provides employee numbers for each employment category, rather than a simple percentage representation. This disclosure will give 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.

Full disclosure of the EEO-1 Report will provide investors with critical information that disclosure of diversity metrics selectively collected by management or partial EEO-1 disclosure will not. In particular, full public disclosure will provide:

• Standardized, quantitative, relevant and comparable employment data across companies and industries, so that investors can assess the representation and progress of black employees and other employees of color and women at various levels of the corporation;
• Specific data on senior management diversity – in addition to setting a strong tone at the top for diversity, research by McKinsey suggests that companies in the top quartile for gender and ethnic/cultural diversity on executive teams have stronger financial performance;
• Particularized data that will allow investors to assess the representation and progress of specific racial and ethnic groups by gender, such as black female employees – disclosures of only percentage representations will prohibit meaningful, year-over-year comparisons.

Disclosure of EEO-1 Report data also provides the board and management with distinct advantages. In the first instance, it provides a cost-effective means to demonstrate substantive progress in diversity and inclusion practices since the company already collects the data for submission to the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC). In addition, some companies resist disclosing their Consolidated EEO-1 Report because they believe the mandated categories do not align with their particular organizational structure, however, disclosure of EEO-1 Report data does not prohibit any qualitative or quantitative disclosures that management believes reflect a company’s organizational structure or demonstrate the company’s performance.

Moreover, to the extent there is widespread adoption, another salutary effect of the disclosure of EEO-1 Report data may be the ability of the board to benchmark the company’s own data to those of its peers, thereby facilitating the board’s oversight of company human capital management practices.

Comptroller Stringer serves as the investment advisor to, and custodian and a trustee of, the New York City Retirement Systems.

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), Sharon Lee (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 Richard Carranza; Mayoral: Isaac Carmignami, Natalie Green Giles, Vanessa Leung, Gary Linnen, Lori Podvesker, Shannon Waite, Miguelina Zorilla-Aristy; Michael Kraft (Manhattan BP), Debrorah Dillingham (Queens BP), April Chapman (Brooklyn BP), Geneal Chacon (Bronx BP) and Peter Calandrella (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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