"PAYING FOR GOOD"

This week on my ‘PAYING FOR GOOD’ podcast, we’re turning our attention to increasing diversity in companies. My special guests are Ann Cairns, executive vice-chair at Mastercard and global chair of the 30% Club, and Marte Borhaug, global head of sustainable outcomes at Aviva Investors and co-chair of the 30% Club investor group.

The 30% Club aims are:
· to have over 30% female representation on the boards and in the C-suites of FTSE 350 firms, although 50% would be ideal
· for there to be at least one person of colour on each of those boards and in C-suites
· and for at least 50% of those people of colour to be female.

To get there, one of the actions is to link diversity targets to incentives. How are you increasing diversity in your organisation?

Your action takeaways:

In addition to linking diversity targets to variable pay, you may also wish to consider some or all of these activities:

·         requesting candidates from more diverse backgrounds on recruitment shortlists

·         ensuring the language in your job vacancies/descriptions is unbiased

·         setting up a women returner programme

·         rolling out targeted development programmes

·         increasing the number of women in your succession plans

·         buddying-up

·         teaching new technology after a period away from work

·         mentoring.

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To find out more about how we could work together on designing and implementing a Responsible Reward strategy, the integration of remuneration and sustainability, in your organisation too, please email me at [email protected].

THE VIOLATION TRACKER - PART 2

Organisations are often quick to showcase their responsible business achievements on environmental, consumer and employee matters. But in some cases, there is another side to the story. Our special guest this week on the 'PAYING FOR GOOD' podcast S4 E6, is Aneesh Raghunandan who is building up the UK Violation Tracker to collate these misdemeanours.

When you listen to Aneesh, you will learn  that:
• UK firms are often offered the option to settle with the regulators or are issued with enforcement notices rather than being made to pay fines through the court system.
• Government agencies regularly remove past data from their websites.
• It’s difficult to track (repeat) offenders.

Your action takeaways:

As an employer:
It’s simple – don’t break the law! It’s getting easier for researchers and analysts to figure out who’s got a good employment track record and who hasn’t.

As an investor:
Be vigilant! And don’t just rely on public corporate disclosures because they may not tell the whole story.

As a regulator:
Please keep past information on your website, fix all technical glitches to access it and consolidate it in one place by parent company.

There should be no need for a Violation Tracker.

TO GET EACH EPISODE OF THIS PODCAST STRAIGHT TO YOUR INBOX, PLEASE SUBSCRIBE HERE: https://www.peoplenet.ltd.uk/newsletter/

To find out more about how we could work together on designing and implementing a Responsible Reward strategy, the integration of remuneration and sustainability, in your organisation too, please email me at [email protected].

THE VIOLATION TRACKER - PART 1

Organisations are often quick to showcase their responsible business achievements. But in some cases, there is another side to the story.
This is why our special guest on the 'PAYING FOR GOOD' podcast this week S4 E5, Philip Mattera, set up the Violation Tracker in the US five years ago. Philip has, to date, recorded more than 400,000 cases, a quarter of which relate to:

• people not being paid their proper wages
• workplace safety
• gender and racial pay discriminations
• mismanagement of pension plans.

Aggregated penalties total around $38 billion!

Your action takeaway:

The Violation Tracker is free to search and display results, and Philip encourages you to use it to promote greater corporate responsibility. What does the tracker say about your organisation and those you invest in? What role can you play in addressing these transgressions?

To find out more about how to design and implement a Responsible Reward strategy, the integration of remuneration and sustainability, in your organisation, please email me at [email protected].

TO GET EACH EPISODE OF THIS PODCAST STRAIGHT TO YOUR INBOX, PLEASE SUBSCRIBE HERE: https://www.peoplenet.ltd.uk/newsletter/

In this episode, you will learn from Mary and Jaime about:

• why paying a fair share of tax is a material issue for investors, employees and consumers
• examples of good practices
• who the bad guys are (yes, they are named in the podcast).

Your action takeaways from Mary, Jaime and me

As an HR/reward professional:

This episode relates to corporation tax-dodging, but the same thinking applies to income tax. The days of being ‘creative’ with remuneration packages and employee (re)locations have long gone and are being frowned upon by your stakeholders on whom your business’s existence relies. Check that all your employees are paying the right amount of tax, in the right place and at the right time.

As a business:

If you’re an organisation that is open, honest and transparent about your taxes, contact the Fair Tax Foundation to learn how to become certified.

As an investor:

Stand out from the competition by writing to your portfolio companies and asking them to pursue the Fair Tax Mark accreditation.

1.       Learn about the SDGs and consider the role that you can play to support them.

2.       Start taking action: determine your own priorities and where you can have most impact, and set ambitious sustainability targets using the Network tools.

3.       Consider becoming a member of the UN Global Compact to network with other businesses and learn how they are tackling some of these challenges.

To find out more about how to design and implement a Responsible Reward strategy in your organisation, please email me at [email protected]

TO GET EACH EPISODE OF THIS PODCAST STRAIGHT TO YOUR INBOX, PLEASE SUBSCRIBE HERE: https://www.peoplenet.ltd.uk/newsletter/

In this episode, you will learn from Jessica about:

• the progress made on the SDGs so far
• the performance gap between actions taken by businesses and those that are needed to achieve the SDGs
• the $2.5 trillion investment gap
• how to use the SDGs in your post-pandemic recovery to build back better.

Your action takeaways from Jessica

1.       Learn about the SDGs and consider the role that you can play to support them.

2.       Start taking action: determine your own priorities and where you can have most impact, and set ambitious sustainability targets using the Network tools.

3.       Consider becoming a member of the UN Global Compact to network with other businesses and learn how they are tackling some of these challenges.

To find out more about Responsible Reward, please email me at [email protected]

TO GET EACH EPISODE OF THIS PODCAST STRAIGHT TO YOUR INBOX, PLEASE SUBSCRIBE HERE: https://www.peoplenet.ltd.uk/newsletter/

In this episode, you will learn from Ruth about:

• the employee digital trust challenge
• the concept of self-sovereign identity
• how to address the numeracy skill gap in HR.

Your action takeaways from Ruth and me

As an employee:

• Understand your employer’s pay gap reports and corresponding action plans.

As an employer:

• Remember that pay inequity is a high-risk approach that responsible investors look out for. It can damage your brand, your reputation and your ability to attract, motivate and retain talent, therefore affecting the sustainability of your business.

As an investor:

• Keep your focus on the human capital metrics of your portfolio companies and ask the right questions to stamp out pay discrimination.   

To find out more about Responsible Reward, please email me at [email protected]

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In this episode, we go on a whistle-stop tour of past and pending sustainability and remuneration regulations in the banking sector with special guest, Piers Haben, Director at the European Banking Authority.

Your action takeaways from Piers:

1.    Understand the framework, metrics and disclosure requirements the EBA is creating to allow banks to identify where they are today and where they want to be in the future.

2.    Create an appropriate ESG strategy.

3.    Start thinking about how your remuneration framework supports your long-term ESG strategy.

TO CONTINUE THIS CONVERSATION, PLEASE EMAIL ME AT [email protected]

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In this episode:

• I share with you a summary of what we covered in previous seasons 1, 2 and 3 of the podcast
• I highlight what's to come in this 4th season
• I remind you of the other resources available to you to design and implement a responsible reward strategy to integrate remuneration and sustainability: report, videos, masterclasses and workshops.

Your action takeaway:
Get involved in any way you can to make the achievement of global sustainability goals your daily reality: check out my resources highlighted in this episode, sign up for a free masterclass and join the workshops with your peers.

TO CONTINUE THIS CONVERSATION, PLEASE EMAIL ME AT [email protected]

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In this episode, you will learn from Philip about:

• the three principles of the Prompt Payment Code
• what happens to big businesses when they fail to pay on time
• what small businesses can do if they’re not being paid on time.

Your action takeaway:
Big businesses: Embrace your responsibility to help your small suppliers stay in business, which is important both for them and for you as a recipient of their services.

Small businesses: Ask your big customers four questions:

1.  Who am I supplying? Invoice the right entity.
2.  When am I going to get paid? Agree this in writing.
3.  How am I going to be paid? Understand your clients’ payment systems.
4.  Where is my money? If you don’t get paid on time, chase your client! 

Investors: As a responsible investor, your reputation and that of your portfolio companies is at stake if they don’t pay their small suppliers on time. Use the Prompt Payment Code as a tool in your ESG (Environmental, Social and Governance) toolkit.

TO CONTINUE THIS CONVERSATION, PLEASE EMAIL ME AT [email protected]

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In this episode, you will learn from Georgia how tumelo provides:

• employees with transparency about where their work pension is invested
• information on what companies their pension is invested in
• scheme members with a voice about sustainability issues at those companies.

Your action takeaway:
HR/pensions professionals:

Tumelo would love to hear about the challenges you encounter when engaging with pension scheme members because it helps the development of its platform.

 Investment professionals:

Tumelo provides you with data from underlying investors on how to vote on live and contentious issues on their behalf. Why not set up a free trial on the tumelo platform?

TO CONTINUE THIS CONVERSATION, PLEASE EMAIL ME AT [email protected]

TO GET EACH EPISODE OF THIS PODCAST STRAIGHT TO YOUR INBOX, PLEASE SUBSCRIBE HERE: https://www.peoplenet.ltd.uk/newsletter/