The JUST Report: CEO Confidence and Stakeholder Value Creation Go Hand In Hand

A major survey on Global CEO Confidence released by EY last week provides some fascinating insights into the way corporate leaders around the world view the competitive and economic landscape right now. 

Cautious optimism is one way to summarize it. CEOs are “rethinking, reimagining and reshaping their companies” to be fit for a highly unpredictable future. They place great importance on being data-driven, on resilience, on understanding how the drivers of total shareholder return are shifting. They know that “capitalizing on disruption” – whether by AI, other emerging technologies, shifting societal values, geopolitical risk or otherwise – will be crucial to long- and short-term value creation. 

Such confidence is critical for a stakeholder mentality to take root. And as the FT’s Gillian Tett noted in her opinion piece last week, “[Milton] Friedman’s shareholder-first mantra went hand in hand with an assumption that the issues that really mattered for companies were those recorded on their balance sheets.” Clearly, this is no longer the case. The biggest risks to shareholder value today often arise from social, environmental, governance, and political sources.

I like to think that through JUST’s polling, data, insights and rankings we can help companies  understand and navigate this increasingly complex landscape of stakeholder expectations. A critical phase of this – ensuring we’ve captured the latest policies and practices from the companies we rank – kicks off September 17th with the opening of our annual Data Review Period. Companies can register to participate here. By building CEO confidence in planning, strategy and decision making on stakeholder performance, we can help equip them to deal with whatever lies ahead.

Be well, 

Martin

Quote of the Week

“In addition to thinking about the return we need to have for our shareholders and the sustainability that this provides to the business, that can also be really complemented by taking care of our employees who make those products possible and the communities where we work and live. How can we make sure that like they’ve helped us along the way, we’re giving back to them.”

• Alex Gorksy, former CEO of Johnson & Johnson, speaking to JUST board member Dan Hesse on how he feels capitalism can be a force for good. Listen to the full interview here.

Policy Highlights from our Top Companies That Treat Employees The Best list

JPMorgan Chase

JPMorgan Chase offers a minimum hourly wage of $20, which exceeds the Russell 1000 average and represents the third highest minimum wage among banks. The company also supports new parents with 16 weeks of paid parental leave for both primary and secondary caregivers and families with various caregiving services. 

Cigna

Cigna prioritizes transparency by sharing highly detailed workforce demographic data by gender, race/ethnicity, and job category, reinforcing its focus on fostering an inclusive environment. Additionally, Cigna supports its employees’ work-life balance with key benefits including 18 days of paid time off and seven days of paid sick leave annually, paid parental leave, flexible scheduling opportunities, and emergency backup dependent care support. 

Dayforce 

Dayforce sets a high standard in the Software industry with its generous and inclusive parental leave policy, offering 17 weeks of paid leave to all caregivers. This is the highest offering at parity among the Top 10 companies and far surpasses the Russell 1000 average of 11 and 8 weeks of paid parental leave for primary and secondary caregivers, respectively.

Read about more leading policies here.

Must Reads

Bank of America, 2023’s Most JUST Company (and #1 for Workers in 2024) is once again raising wages – bringing its minimum wage to $24 an hour, with a plan to hit $25 in 2025. Axios dives into the details. 

In other  news on wages, the U.S Construction industry dropped to its lowest level of unemployment ever recorded, with wages up across the board. CB has the full story. 

However, MSN counters this news by reporting on the 15 cities that are no longer viable for minimum wage workers due to rising cost of living. 

NPR chronicles one Wisconsin CEO’s journey to create viable child care options for his 900 employees, and the hurdles the company faced. 

Chart of the Week

This chart comes from Axios’ latest newsletter, and shows that for the first time in 4 years, the median U.S. income has actually gone up. Learn more inside.