President Trump’s DEI-related executive orders, and the implications they have on the private and corporate sectors, have caused disruption to longstanding employment practices. There have been concerns raised around the legality and risks of collecting and sharing data on a company’s workforce and utilizing that data to strengthen its human capital management strategies as it relates to its diverse staff. The concerns being raised may feel like new additions to the corporate reporting landscape; however, they are similar to what we heard from 2018 to 2020 around the EEO-1 disclosure form (a government-mandated form showing a company’s demographic workforce data by sex, race, and ethnicity).
Read moreBoard Diversity Reduces Material Risk and Increases Long-Term Sustainable Growth
The push for board diversity has gained momentum in recent years, in part as an acknowledgment that a board’s needs are changing in response to an increasingly complex, competitive, and dynamic operating environment. The advent of disruptive technologies, geopolitical shifts, and evolving consumer behaviors and expectations has compelled boards to adopt a more expansive approach to oversight, strategy, and widening the lens on the risks that could harm the company. Recent retreats by ISS, Vanguard, and others of a full-throated endorsement of board diversity should be viewed for what they are – a calculated risk mitigation strategy in response to the current political climate and recent legal decisions around diversity mandates. The factors that underpin a commonsense business case for demographic diversity on boards are as relevant as ever.
Read moreStrong Shareholder Support for Code of Conduct for Corporate Political Spending
It’s head spinning to watch the second Trump administration unfold. Daily directives – many unlawful – from Washington have upended the nation. Grant freezes, proposed tariffs, mass deportations, and ending federal DEI programs; attempted dissolution of congressionally created executive agencies; and restrictions on shareholder proposals are overwhelming.
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