The JUST Report

Ahead of Labor Day, let’s take stock of where things stand for the American worker. 

It’s a story that captures almost every aspect of the business zeitgeist in America today – workers’ quest for fair pay, good jobs, and better conditions; unions; community support and survival; COVID; health and safety; climate change; ESG; shareholder activism; the corporate profit imperative; and, of course (inevitably), politics. 

On the third anniversary of the Business Roundtable’s embrace of stakeholder value creation, we’ve taken a closer look at how that statement’s signatories have performed over that time across our key stakeholder categories. 

The ESG blowback is here, and it’s real.

The pressures inflation heaps on business does not mean stakeholder value creation needs to take a back seat. On the contrary, it can be a time for just companies to shine.

With the heat index through the roof, melting runways, buckled train lines, and travel chaos more broadly bring significant disruptions to logistics and the physical movement of people and goods.

The American public is navigating tough times. As prices are going up, wages aren’t keeping up. And the reality is that job growth is very different from quality job growth

Of the 100 largest American public companies by workforce size, 43% disclose that they have conducted a pay gap analysis by race and ethnicity (up from 34% last year), and 22% disclose the actual results (up from 14%).

Companies seeking to do right by their stakeholders will have their mettle tested in the weeks and months to come. Let’s start with wages…

Investing in local communities, especially those that need it the most, is one area where the private sector can have a huge positive impact during a downturn.

Our 2022 Corporate Racial Equity Tracker, launched last week, tracks how the country’s largest 100 employers are measuring up to these expectations on a range of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) issues from workforce demographic disclosure to community investments.    

The fierce debate over what stakeholder capitalism and ESG is or is not took a sharply political turn this week. 

An unusual thing happened this week: a company was rewarded, not punished, by the market for raising wages.

S&P revealed this week it dropped Tesla from its flagship ESG index. We take a closer look at why, and how Elon could improve Tesla’s ESG profile.

An eye-popping 87% of Americans across all political, age, geographic, gender, and racial lines agree that the growing gap between CEO pay and median worker pay is a problem in this country today.

The leaked Supreme Court majority opinion draft on potentially overturning Roe v. Wade lit a fire under companies to be clear where they stand on the issue of reproductive rights.

This past week saw three high-profile examples of why it’s so important for corporate leaders to understand what makes their stakeholders tick when making decisions involving complex societal issues. 

We‘ve been sharing insights and data on the state of corporate environmental leadership in America and how things are trending, including the Top 10 Companies for Environmental Performance list shared with our media partner, CNBC. 

Inflation hit its highest level since 1981 in March (8.5%). Its causes and effects are starting to force some difficult conversations on core ESG and stakeholder priorities.   

Monday was a monumental day for JUST and our mission

When it comes to stakeholder capitalism, we don’t often think of activist investors as major protagonists. This appears to be changing. 

On the face of it, the SEC’s proposed rule requiring companies to disclose emissions and other climate information, announced Monday, gives the market exactly what it’s been asking for. 

Inflation is one of the more insidious enemies of a just economy. Fed chairman Jerome Powell said as much on Wednesday, when announcing the first rate hike since 2018. 

The JUST Report: Is War Reshaping How We Think About ESG?

What does it mean for companies to support countries committed to democracy? What is the role of corporations in upholding the core tenets of a healthy free market society and the rule of law?