Diversity Disclosures Jumped in 2022, Says Study

Top 100 companies disclosed considerably more detail around diversity goals, metrics and accomplishments in 2022, according to JUST Capital’s 2022 Corporate Racial Equity Tracker. Companies in the tracker showed increases in various areas of disclosure between 2021 and 2022:

• Workforce diversity disclosure increased from 86% to 91% of companies 
• Board diversity disclosure increased from 84% to 95% of companies
• Racial/ethnic pay equity analysis increased from 34% to 45% (a 33% jump) of companies
• Results of pay equity analyses (i.e., race-based pay ratios) increased from 14% to 24%

Much of the increase in disclosures can be attributed to pressure from investor campaigns and shareholder proposals along with anticipated SEC rules mandating diversity disclosure. The report highlighted several practices that, while still a minority of companies, may increase over time:

• Diversity targets (for hiring, promotion, retention, etc) are disclosed by 23% of companies
• Supplier diversity spend is disclosed by 42% of companies
• A small number (7%) of companies disclose internal hire or promotion rates by race/ethnicity 

The tracker provides an interactive database of top 100 companies ranked by the types of disclosures each company provides, including links to the disclosures and statistics on board diversity. In particular, Center members Accenture, Intel and Target are highlighted as companies with “standout” diversity disclosures in 2022.