ASX 100 failing to disclose workforce

New research by ACCR has revealed that Australian listed companies are failing to disclose even basic information about their workforces.

Although investors and shareholders are increasingly concerned about the risks that poor workforce management can pose for a company, analysis of the ASX 100’s reporting reveals that minimal information is being provided by most companies on five key workforce issues: employee remuneration, turnover and new hires, workforce composition (diversity and equal opportunity), workforce composition (contractors and labour-hire), and occupational health and safety.

Key findings:

• 15 ASX 100 companies do not provide numeric disclosures on any of the key indicators analysed: Afterpay Touch, Altium, Aristocrat Leisure, Computershare, IDP Education, Magellan Financial Group, REA Group, Resmed, Santos, Soul Pattison, Spark NZ, Tabcorp Holdings, a2 Milk Company, TPG Telecom, Xero​.
• Only 2 ASX 100 companies provide numerical data for indicators under all 5 workforce areas examined in this report: ​Scentre Group and Telstra​.
• 30 companies report on their equal pay gap (ratio of male to female remuneration in similar roles), while only 3 companies report on their gender pay gap (ratio of median male to median female remuneration). These companies are: ​Rio Tinto, BHP, and National Australia Bank​.
• No companies in the ASX 100 report on the racial pay gap – which reflects limited reporting on race and cultural diversity overall.

Quotes attributable to ACCR’s Director of Workers’ Rights, Dr Katie Hepworth:

“In recent years, there have been numerous workforce scandals, including over extreme wage theft and dodgy labour-hire providers. Just this week, we have seen another class action filed against a major ASX-listed company, Dominos, regarding systemic wage underpayments, demonstrating again that a failure to properly manage workforce issues can have significant financial repercussions and erode shareholder value.

“Given this, it is concerning that so many companies are failing to report on even basic information on their workforce.

“More and more investors are wanting access to this sort of information, in order to make proper assessments about the financial, reputational, procurement and legal risks which may derive from poor workforce management by companies. “A lack of reporting hinders effective engagement by investors, who are unable to properly assess these company’s management of their workforce.”

Media contact:​ Dr​ ​Katie Hepworth, 0416 825 280