Two Giants of Finance Will Release Diversity Data
Two Giants of Finance Will Release Diversity Data
By PATRICK McGEEHAN
Published: April 15, 2012
At the behest of New York Citys public pension funds, two of the biggest financial companies with headquarters in the city, Goldman Sachs and MetLife, have agreed to publicly disclose information about the racial and gender breakdowns of their staffs.
The disclosures could lead to changes that would benefit shareholders of those companies, as well as their current and future employees, said the citys comptroller, John C. Liu, who is to announce the agreement on Monday. The public pension funds, whose assets exceed $118 billion, have large stakes in Goldman and MetLife.
Studies have shown the benefits of a diverse work force on company performance and long-term shareowner value, and many companies say they are making serious efforts to recruit, retain and promote women and minorities, said Mr. Liu, who is a trustee of the pension funds. But without quantitative disclosure, shareholders have no way to evaluate the effectiveness of these efforts.
New York City has the highest concentration of high-paying jobs in finance and advertising of any city in the country and maybe in the world. But those industries have been slower than others to move minorities and women into their management ranks, studies have shown.
more: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/16/nyregion/goldman-sachs-and-metlife-to-disclose-staff-diversity-data.html