American Tower Corporation | Gender and Racial Pay Gap at American Tower Corporation

Status
49.20% votes in favour
AGM date
Previous AGM date
Proposal number
5
Resolution details
Company ticker
AMT
Lead filer
Resolution ask
Report on or disclose
ESG theme
  • Social
ESG sub-theme
  • Diversity, equity & inclusion (DEI)
  • Remuneration or pay
Type of vote
Shareholder proposal
Filer type
Shareholder
Company sector
Real Estate
Company HQ country
United States
Resolved clause
RESOLVED: Shareholders request American Tower report on both quantitative median and adjusted pay gaps across race and gender, including associated policy, reputational, competitive, and operational risks, and risks related to recruiting and retaining diverse talent. The report should be prepared at reasonable cost, omitting proprietary information, litigation strategy and legal compliance information.
Racial/gender pay gaps are defined as the difference between non-minority and minority/male and female median earnings expressed as a percentage of non-minority/male earnings (Wikipedia/OECD, respectively).
Whereas clause
WHEREAS: Pay inequities persist across race and gender and pose substantial risks to companies and society. Black workers’ median annual earnings represent 77 percent of white wages. The median income for women working full time is 84 percent that of men. Intersecting race, Black women earn 76 percent and Latina women 63 percent.1 At the current rate, women will not reach pay equity until 2059, Black women in 2130, and Latina women in 2224.2
Citigroup estimates closing minority and gender wage gaps 20 years ago could have generated 12 trillion dollars in additional national income. PwC estimates closing the gender pay gap could boost Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) countries’ economies by 2 trillion dollars annually.3
Actively managing pay equity is associated with improved representation. Diversity in leadership is linked to superior stock performance and return on equity.4 Minorities represent 27 percent of American Tower’s workforce and 22 percent of executives. Women represent 35 percent of the workforce and 22 percent of executives.5
Best practice pay equity reporting consists of two parts:
1. unadjusted median pay gaps, assessing equal opportunity to high paying roles,
2. statistically adjusted gaps, assessing whether minorities and non-minorities, men and women, are paid the same for similar roles.
American Tower does not report quantitative unadjusted or adjusted pay gaps. About 50 percent of the 100 largest
U.S. employers currently report adjusted gaps, and an increasing number of companies disclose unadjusted gaps to address the structural bias women and minorities face regarding job opportunity and pay.6
Racial and gender unadjusted median pay gaps are accepted as the valid way of measuring pay inequity by the United States Census Bureau, Department of Labor, OECD, and International Labor Organization. The United Kingdom and Ireland mandate disclosure of median gender pay gaps.7
Supporting statement
SUPPORTING STATEMENT: An annual report adequate for investors to assess performance could, with board discretion, integrate base, bonus, and equity compensation to calculate:
· percentage median and adjusted gender pay gap, globally and/or by country, where appropriate
· percentage median and adjusted racial/minority/ethnicity pay gap, US and/or by country, where appropriate
1 https://www.census.gov/data/tables/time-series/demo/income-poverty/cps-pinc/pinc-05.html-par_textimage_24 
2 https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5bc65db67d0c9102cca54b74/t/622f4567fae4ea772ae60492/1647265128087/Racial+Gender+Pay+Scorecard+2022+-+Arjuna+Capital.pdf 
3 Ibid.
4 Ibid. 
5 https://www.americantower.com/us/sustainability/social.html 
6 https://diversiq.com/which-sp-500-companies-disclose-gender-pay-equity-data/  
7 https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5bc65db67d0c9102cca54b74/t/622f4567fae4ea772ae60492/1647265128087/Racial+Gender+Pay+Scorecard+2022+-+Arjuna+Capital.pdf 

How other organisations have declared their voting intentions

Organisation name Declared voting intentions Rationale
Kutxabank Gestion SGIIC SAU. For
VidaCaixa For
BPI Gestão de Ativos - SGOIC, SA For
CaixaBank Asset Management For A vote FOR this proposal is warranted, as shareholders would benefit from median racial/gender pay gap
reporting that would allow them to compare and measure the progress of the company's diversity and inclusion
initiatives.
Anima Sgr For Increased disclosure of the company's workforce diversity data and disclosure of pay gap statistics would provide investors useful information for assessing the progress of the company’s diversity, equity and inclusion efforts.

DISCLAIMER: By including a shareholder resolution or management proposal in this database, neither the PRI nor the sponsor of the resolution or proposal is seeking authority to act as proxy for any shareholder; shareholders should vote their proxies in accordance with their own policies and requirements.

Any voting recommendations set forth in the descriptions of the resolutions and management proposals included in this database are made by the sponsors of those resolutions and proposals, and do not represent the views of the PRI.

Information on the shareholder resolutions, management proposals and votes in this database have been obtained from sources that are believed to be reliable, but the PRI does not represent that it is accurate, complete, or up-to-date, including information relating to resolutions and management proposals, other signatories’ vote pre-declarations (including voting rationales), or the current status of a resolution or proposal. You should consult companies’ proxy statements for complete information on all matters to be voted on at a meeting.