Key Findings

• As of September 2021, the majority of companies in the Russell 1000 (55%) disclose some type of racial and ethnic workforce data, a notable increase since January 2021, when only 32% of companies disclosed racial and ethnic data.
• Between September 2020 and September 2021, the share of companies disclosing an EEO-1 Report or Intersectional Data, the gold standard for demographic data reporting, has more than doubled, from 4% to 11%.
• While EEO-1 Report or Intersectional Data disclosure has historically been concentrated in the Technology industry (24 companies at the time of this analysis), the number of companies disclosing this data in the Financials industry has nearly caught up, more than doubling between January 2021 and September 2021, from nine companies to 22 companies.

After a year and half of pledges and promises to help advance racial equity, totaling at least $50 billion in both internal and external initiatives, investors, regulators, employees, and other key stakeholders are still looking for signals of action from corporate America. For many, a first step is transparency around corporate diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) efforts and, in particular, around racial and ethnic workforce and board demographics as an indicator of the state of representation.

While stakeholders recognize that this is a work in progress for companies, and that they can’t expect perfection, they’re making it clear that they’re no longer willing to accept inaction or silence on what steps companies have taken. Of Americans JUST Capital and The Harris Poll surveyed, 84% agreed that companies “often hide behind public declarations of support for stakeholders but don’t walk the walk.” Shareholder proposals on DEI soared last proxy season. Following New York City Comptroller Scott Stringer’s call to 67 S&P 100 companies to share the racial, ethnic, and gender breakdown of their workforces, half of this group has either disclosed or committed to disclose this data. The SEC has noted that disclosure of human capital metrics—workforce-related data, policies, and practices—is a key area of focus and that it could be issuing standards for disclosure on these measures this year.

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