American Express Called Out by Investors Concerned About ‘Woke-Washing’

I am Meredith Benton. I am speaking on behalf of the non-profit advocacy organization, As You Sow and I am also the CEO of the consultancy Whistle Stop Capital. I formally move proposal number 5 asking for American Express to report on how it assesses the company’s diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts. The process that the board follows for determining the effectiveness of its diversity and inclusion programs, and how it assesses goals, metrics, and trends related to recruitment, promotion, and retention, are important to shareholders.

Reports linking diversity and inclusion to outperformance come from BCG, McKinsey, Credit Suisse, Stanford’s Graduate School of Business, The Wall Street Journal, and others. The data demonstrates that diversity and inclusion matter, that diverse teams strengthen companies. 

Best practices for diversity and inclusion reporting exist, and are increasingly in use across companies.  Publishing the company’s  EEO-1 form, a governmentally mandated form providing basic workforce composition details, is the first step, one American Express recently committed to.  

The release of workforce composition data is akin to a balance sheet, detailing diversity at a single point in time. Just as a balance sheet would, by itself, be insufficient to identify the strength of a company’s financials, so too is the EEO-1, by itself, insufficient in assessing the effectiveness of American Express’ inclusion programs. The company’s inclusion data — the hiring, retention, and promotion rates of diverse employees — must be shared for investors to have a full understanding of the workplace experience of American Express’ employees. In theory, companies should want to share their retention data: if it’s a good company to work at, people will want to stay. They should want to share their promotion data, in theory: if it’s a company that hires good people, those good people should ascend with mentorship and time.

American Express has made extensive admirable statements about its commitment to diversity. In addition to hosting women’s conferences, the company has announced a remarkable $1 billion action plan intended to advance diversity, equity, and inclusion. In announcing its $1b commitment, the company stated that “American Express has a comprehensive strategy to attract, develop and retain underrepresented colleagues.”  American Express identifies these as an essential data set — attract, develop, and retain. It’s the data that investors need. Failure to share this information may erode trust with key consumer demographics and employees. That American Express is unable to share its own data, it’s a problem for the company and it’s a problem for its investors. 

How does American Express show investors and other external stakeholders that its commitments are real?  That its statements are not puffery, marketing, performative? 

We ask that the board release sufficient information to assure investors that it is providing effective oversight of diversity, equity, and inclusion programs at our company. Silence on internal metrics is out of alignment with American Express’ good and admirable deeds. We encourage transparency, even in the face of imperfection, in order to show that American Express is truly committed to its existing and future employees, and to meaningful change — something that is needed across the American landscape.

Thank you.