April 15, 2019
Gender Pay Gap Proposals: No Signs of Slowing
– Liz Dunshee
A few months ago, I blogged that Citigroup was the first US company to post unadjusted “pay gap” numbers on its website. That effort has landed it at the top of this “Gender Pay Scorecard” from Arjuna Capital & Proxy Impact, which ranks 46 large companies on their pay equity disclosures. Of course, half of the companies got a failing grade (report cards like this only come out when there’s something to complain about). The scorecard also recaps the five-year history of these proposals and says that the proponents won’t be letting up any time soon. Here’s an excerpt:
As of April 2019, 27 proposals have been filed with several more likely to be filed before the end of the year. The healthcare sector has seen the largest increase in shareholder activity this year. Only seven proposals have been withdrawn so far, partly since more investor proposals are asking for companies to provide unadjusted median pay data like the reporting requirement in the U.K. This data helps identify the opportunity gap for women. More detail regarding the difference between adjusted “equal pay” and unadjusted “median pay” disclosures is provided in a subsequent section.
In the last four years, at least 64 companies have faced more than 100 shareholder resolutions on the gender pay gap, along with many more shareholder dialogs in the absence of a formal proposal. The shareholder campaign has primarily focused on the information tech, financial services, retail, and healthcare sectors. It shows no signs of slowing down and will likely expand to more sectors in the future.