A new report by investor group ShareAction has found companies need more transparency and disclosure on employee satisfaction and human rights.
The shareholder advocacy group’s sixth annual Workforce Data Initiative survey, released on March 30, argued that many companies are failing to set out how they are creating “satisfying and rewarding” jobs as well as failing to provide data on the gender ratio of training seen as a “simple benchmark of the adequacy of equal opportunity for the workforce.”
The study also revealed that companies are still not paying enough attention to human rights, with many industries failing to collect enough data. This included less than two thirds of respondents from the financial sector which compare suppliers’ human rights standards against their own.
With supply chains listed as often the site of the most severe human rights violations, the report revealed that in four sectors, including financial, industrials, materials and real estate, less than half of companies monitor whether supply chain workers have access to a grievance mechanism. Employee mental health was also a key focus area. “For many employees, how your company deals with mental health and wellbeing is a key [factor in] staff retention,” the report announcement revealed, adding that 90% of respondents boasted wellbeing programs.
However, ShareAction said it was “disappointing” to see that mental health and wellbeing was not embedded at a board level, with 40% of respondents failing to report on sick days due to mental health.