THE WALT DISNEY COMPANY | Greater Disclosure of Material Corporate Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Data at THE WALT DISNEY COMPANY

Status
Withdrawn
AGM date
Previous AGM date
Resolution details
Company ticker
DIS
Resolution ask
Report on or disclose
ESG theme
  • Social
ESG sub-theme
  • Diversity, equity & inclusion (DEI)
Type of vote
Shareholder proposal
Filer type
Shareholder
Company sector
Consumer Discretionary
Company HQ country
United States
Resolved clause
Resolved: Shareholders request that The Walt Disney Company (“Disney”) report to shareholders on the effectiveness of the Company's diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts. The report should be done at reasonable expense, exclude proprietary information, and provide transparency on outcomes using quantitative metrics for hiring, retention, and promotion of employees, including data by gender, race, and ethnicity.
Supporting Statement: Quantitative data is sought so that investors can assess, understand, and compare the effectiveness of companies’ diversity, equity, and inclusion programs.
Supporting statement
Whereas:  Disney relies heavily on its diverse staff, with 46% of its U.S. employees self-identifying as people of color and 50% of employees worldwide self-identifying as women.[1] However, Disney provides limited data that on the effectiveness of its diversity and inclusion programs.
Numerous studies have pointed to the benefits of a diverse workforce. Their findings include:
Companies with the strongest executive ethnic diversity were 33 percent more likely to have financial returns above their industry medians than those in the bottom quartile for executive ethnic diversity. [2]Companies in the top quartile for gender diversity are 21 percent more likely to outperform on profitability and 27 percent more likely to have superior value creation.[3]The 20 most diverse companies had an average annual five-year stock return that was 5.8 percentage points higher than the 20 least-diverse companies.[4] 
Companies should look to hire the best talent. However, Black and Latino applicants face hiring challenges. Results of a meta-analysis of 24 field experiments found that, with identical resumes, white applicants received an average of 36 percent more callbacks than Black applicants and 24 percent more callbacks than Latino applicants.”[5]
Promotion rates show how well diverse talent is nurtured at a company. Unfortunately, women and employees of color experience “a broken rung” in their careers; for every 100 men who are promoted, only 86 women are. Women of color are particularly impacted, comprising 17 percent of the entry-level workforce and only four percent of executives.[6]
Retention rates show whether employees choose to remain at a company. Morgan Stanley has found that employee retention above industry average can indicate a competitive advantage and higher levels of future profitability.[7] Companies with high employee satisfaction have also been linked to annualized outperformance of over two percent.[8]
Between September 2020 and September 2022, the release of hiring rate data by gender, race, and ethnicity by S&P 100 companies increased by 307 percent, retention rate data releases increased by 279 percent, and promotion rate data releases increased by 292 percent.[9] Companies that release, or have committed to release, inclusion data include Comcast, Hasbro, McDonald’s, Netflix, and Nike. We encourage Disney to join these leading companies and release recruitment, retention, and promotion data broken down by race and gender. 
 
[1] https://impact.disney.com/diversity-inclusion/
[2]McKinsey & Company, “Delivering through Diversity”, January 2018 (https://www.mckinsey.com/business-functions/people-and-organizational-performance/our-insights/delivering-through-diversity)
[3]Ibid
[4] Holger, Dieter, “The business case for more diversity” Wall Street Journal, October 26, 2019 (https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-business-case-for-more-diversity-11572091200)
[5] https://hbr.org/2017/10/hiring-discrimination-against-black-americans-hasnt-declined-in-25-years
[6] https://wiw-report.s3.amazonaws.com/Women_in_the_Workplace_2021.pdf
[7]https://www.morganstanley.com/im/publication/insights/articles/article_culturequantframework_us.pdf
[8] https://www.institutionalinvestor.com/article/b1tx0zzdhhnf5x/Want-to-Pick-the-Best-Stocks-Pick-the-Happiest-Companies?utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=The%20Essential%20II%20100721&utm_content=The%20Essential%20II%20100721%20CID_eb103a9e15359075f72a85f7ff534c79&utm_source=CampaignMonitorEmail&utm_term=Want%20to%20Pick%20the%20Best%20Stocks%20Pick%20the%20Happiest%20Companies
[9] Whistle Stop Capital research based on https://www.asyousow.org/our-work/social-justice/workplace-equity

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