Numerous studies by respected organizations such as The Wall Street Journal, Credit Suisse, Morgan Stanley, McKinsey, PwC and BCG have pointed to the material benefits of a diverse workforce.

Companies should look to hire the best talent. However, Black and Latino applicants face recruitment challenges. Results of a meta-analysis study of 24 field experiments, dating back to 1990, found that, with identical resumes, White applicants receive an average of 36 percent more callbacks than Black applicants and 24 percent more callbacks than Latino applicants.”1

Promotion rates show how well diverse talent is nurtured at a company. Unfortunately, women and non-White employees experience “a broken rung” in their careers. For every 100 men who are promoted, only 86 women are promoted. Non-White women are particularly impacted, comprising 17 percent of entry-level workforce and only 4 percent of executives.2

Morgan Stanley has found that “Employee retention that is above industry peer averages can indicate the presence of competitive advantage. This advantage may lead to higher levels of future profitability than past financial performance would indicate.”3 Companies with high employee satisfaction have also been linked to annualized outperformance of over two percent.4

NextEra Energy has not yet committed to release standardized workforce composition data through its consolidated EEO-1 form, which is best practice in diversity data reporting. Nor has it shared sufficient recruitment, retention, and promotion data to allow investors to determine the effectiveness of its human capital management programs.