The JUST Report: The New Gold Standard For Business Leadership In America
Our annual release of the JUST 100 with CNBC is always a special occasion. It’s a huge deal for JUST Capital to unveil which companies are truly delivering on the issues of greatest importance to the American public. It’s also a moment to recognize and celebrate business leadership, spotlight key issues and spark important debate about the role of business in society.
This year’s event, sponsored by the Stakeholder Impact Foundation and BCG, had a particular electricity running through it.
Maybe it was the magic of the Nasdaq closing bell ceremony with our Chair and co-founder Paul Tudor Jones, and Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) CEO Antonio Neri, whose company took the #1 spot on our list. Maybe it was the power-packed, standing-room-only reception that followed with our fabulous partners Boston Consulting Group, Stakeholder Impact Foundation, and Nasdaq.
From BCG Senior Partner (and JUST Board member) Sushmita Banerjee’s opening remarks, to Andrew Ross Sorkin’s conversation with Paul and Antonio, to JUST Capital President Alison Omens’ panel with HPE Board Chair Patricia Russo (also on the JUST Board), Avangrid CFO Justin Lagasse, and Accenture’s Stuart Henderson, the program struck to the heart of what just business behavior actually looks like, the challenges and tradeoffs that companies face, and what it means to be a corporate leader today. You can read more of their remarks and takeaways here.
It’s a movement we know a large majority of Americans are behind: the idea that business can and must be a force for greater good. Lest anyone think this is antithetical to shareholders’ best interests, I note (as reported last week) that the JUST 100 Index has beaten the Equal Weighted Russell 1000 benchmark by 38.5% since inception (and 3% YTD), and the spread between the top 10% and bottom 10% of companies we rank is 75.5% since January 2018.
I’m going to leave the last word to HPE’s Neri. He is, as Paul noted, the new “gold standard” for business leadership in America. “One of the sayings we have at the company is ‘you have to win the right way.’” Amen to that.
Be well,
Martin
JUST 100 POLICY HIGHLIGHTS
We’ll be highlighting some of the best policies across the JUST 100 in our next few newsletters, but for this week, we’re picking one policy each from the companies that landed 2-5 on the list.
- Bank of America continues to lead on wages, paying the highest minimum wage in the banking industry of $23 per hour. They also champion employee development by offering tuition reimbursement and an average of 50.7 hours of career development per employee,
- Accenture excels on transparency to their customers and their commitment to privacy, being one of the first global companies to be externally verified against the information security standard, and maintaining both board-level oversight on privacy and cybersecurity issues, and an internal team to mitigate and resolve privacy-related issues.
- Intel stands out for its robust levels of transparency by disclosing its EEO-1 pay disclosure report – revealing not only the demographic breakdown of the company’s workforce, but also the pay range for employees at each level – and its commitment to local communities, including a 16-20-week paid returnship program for individuals with gaps in their resume.
- Citigroup is bolstered by its strong commitment to retaining workers and having a robust training and development program, disclosing a 36% internal hire rate and a 84.6% retention rate, alongside offering an average 38 hours of career development per employee.
CNBC JUST 100 COVERAGE
CNBC, our official media partner, led in-depth coverage of our rankings.
The network’s coverage led off with Andrew Ross Sorkin speaking with Antonio Neri – CEO of HPE, 2024’s Most JUST Company – and our founder and chair Paul Tudor Jones. The three discussed the company’s incredible performance across worker issues, the markets, and more. After you’ve listened to their conversation, you can take a much closer look at HPE’s leading policies and practices in this special deep-dive, and make sure to follow it up with our interview with their VP of Benefits, Culture, and People Experience on how the company implemented its exceptional parental leave policy–offering 26 weeks of paternity and maternity leave to all employees, including a host of other childcare related benefits.
Later that afternoon CNBC spoke with Christophe Beck, Ecolab chair and CEO, to discuss their place on the Just 100 list, the business of water conservation and their environmental leadership and more, and more. CNBC also released a short on-air piece highlighting how these top JUST 100 companies perform on DEI disclosures despite the recent political pushback.
On Wednesday they spoke with Avangrid CEO Pedro Azagra to discuss their ranking, working with the sustainable energy sector, and more. And on Thursday they were joined by Accenture CEO Julie Sweet, our #3 most JUST Company, where they discussed the company’s leading consumer privacy and cybersecurity policies and more.
Additionally, CNBC’s Brandon Gomez discussed overall trends in the JUST 100, and CNBC’s Eric Rosenbaum explored how chip companies fared.
Next week they’ll continue their coverage with interviews featuring the CEOs of Citigroup, Hasbro, and other companies. To keep on top of all of their coverage, go here.
