Liontrust Sustainable Investment Engagement and Voting Annual Review 2021 - Flipbook - Page 8
2019 engagement highlights
Over the last four years, we
have seen meaningful progress
on board gender diversity for
companies in our funds
Board gender diversity: Over the last four years, we have seen
meaningful progress on board gender diversity for companies in
our funds, and although there are other external factors, we believe
our voting and engagement with these companies has contributed
to improvements.
In 2016, we began withholding support for companies that are not
sufficiently gender diverse. Where companies had less than 15%
women on the board, we voted against the annual report and accounts
at the AGM and abstained where this was greater than 15% but less
than 30%. In 2019, we used the same process but instead focused
on the resolution to re-elect the Chair of the Nomination Committee.
21
Twenty-one companies in our funds have increased the proportion
of women on the board to over 30%, such that we no longer need
to withhold our support. After voting, these companies now have
an average of 38% female boards, compared to just 22% before
we began voting.
A further 15 companies in our funds have increased the number of
women on their boards, and we remain positive that continued efforts
through voting and engagement on this issue should result in further
progress. After voting, these companies now have an average of 26%
female boards, compared to just 19% before we voted on this issue.
There are 10 companies where we have seen less progress on
increasing the gender diversity on boards so we will continue to
engage and vote to effect real change.
Staff and the gig economy: Treatment of staff continues to be a key
engagement issue, particularly in light of growing concerns about
the poor employment standards of the so- called ‘gig economy’.
We met Gym Group several times over 2019 to ensure it is treating
its trainers fairly. The company has to balance the needs of its
trainers, ensuring they have the opportunity for full employment with
the associated rights, while also recognising that some wish to
remain self-employed. The company trialled a new arrangement
in eight gyms and has since rolled this out across the company.
Gym Group’s commitment to people earned the company a Gold
Award from the Investor in People Group and it was also named
in the Sunday Times’ ‘100 Best Smaller Companies to Work For’,
highlighting its commitment to being a first-class employer.
21 companies in our funds have
increased the proportion of women
on the board to over 30%
15
A further 15 companies in our
funds have increased the number
of women on their boards. these
companies now have an average
of 26% female boards
10
There are 10 companies where
we have seen less progress. We
will continue to engage and vote to
effect real change
Workforce Disclosure Initiative: Liontrust become a signatory to
ShareAction’s Workforce Disclosure Initiative (WDI) in July 2019,
which aims to improve the quality of jobs globally. The WDI is
pressing companies around the world to disclose better data on how
they manage staff and their supply chain workers. The data cover
issues such as health and safety, workers’ rights, diversity and wage
levels. The fact there are too many poor quality and precarious jobs
around the world is recognised in the UN’s Sustainable Development
Goal 8, which calls for decent work for all.
Through the Initiative, our team will encourage companies held
across our funds to disclose data to the WDI, and in 2019 we
requested that 15 companies give data to the Initiative. One
company confirmed it would submit data and we are following
up with the others as we continue our efforts to improve public
disclosure on worker-related issues during 2020.
8 - Liontrust Sustainable Investment: Engagement and Voting: Annual Review 2019
