Boston Trust Walden's (BTW) "Reflections on the 2020 Proxy Voting Season" explains why BTW supported or did not support certain types of proposals this proxy season. Explanations of BTW's non-support for proposals on: (i) global median gender and racial pay gap and (ii) employee representation on boards in particular demonstrate thoughtful consideration of the nexus between the sought-after objectives and the proposed means to achieve them.
As to the global median gender and racial pay gap proposal, BTW states:
We agree with the spirit of the proposal—employers should provide assurance that their compensation practices are blind to gender and race. Yet the request for a global racial pay gap metric ignores the uniquely diverse demographics and regulatory structures of countries around the world, posing substantial challenges to implement, interpret, and compare pay practices of companies with vastly differing geographic footprints. While we expect companies to advance equality across all operations, domestic and international, we ultimately did not support this resolution. Our voting policy will be updated to generally vote for proposals calling for analysis and disclosure of a US racial pay gap, which provides investors important information on if and how effectively companies are providing equal pay for equal work.
BTW's lack of support for a proposal seeking reporting on the feasibility of employee representation on the board reflects its view that there is no proof that this is the most effective means to integrate employee input into corporate decision-making as compared to other means such as management-employee committees, collective bargaining agreements, routine engagement such as employee satisfaction surveys, and direct feedback channels.
See our report last week: "Boston Trust Walden Reports on 2020 Proxy Season." This post first appeared in the weekly Society Alert!