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Blog | Wednesday February 8, 2023

Family Medical and Leave Act Turns 30: Five Actions Business Can Take in 2023

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This month, on February 5, 2023, the Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993 (FMLA) turns 30. The FMLA—which guarantees job-protected, unpaid leave to certain workers—was always intended as a first step toward a country that honors and supports all working people, families, and businesses. But decades later, its promise has not yet been fulfilled.

Since 1993, the law has been used more than 460 million times to help working people welcome a new child, care for a spouse or for parental and sick leave. Yet despite its benefits, many—including those in disproportionately low-wage jobs, hourly workers, workers of color, rural workers, immigrants, and others who make our workplaces thrive—are unprotected. Even among workers covered, the fact that the law only guarantees unpaid leave means millions of working adults cannot use the FMLA due to financial risks.

Among the 44 percent of the workforce excluded are people who work for smaller businesses, part-time workers, and any workers with less than 12 months’ tenure. This translates into workers trying to fit healthcare appointments, both routine and significant, on their breaks; children being placed in daycare settings where quality is second to coverage of hours; and frontline workers worrying about ailing loved ones in hospital rooms alone. These gaps can also impact job stability: nearly one in four parents reported last year being fired from their jobs due to the continuing breakdown of child care for their kids.

Access to paid family leave, and expansions of the FMLA, are social justice issues that companies can address internally as well as champion externally.

The US is an outlier when it comes to paid family leave and paid sick or medical leave relative to our economic peers. While most other countries’ laws guarantee paid leave to workers—and multinational companies outside the US are used to doing business within these regulatory landscapes—there is no US equivalent.

Despite the lack of federal requirements for paid family and medical leave, two programs have helped fill the FMLA’s gaps and paved the way for future progress.

First, 11 states and the District of Columbia (DC) have created public programs that guarantee access to paid family and medical leave to all workers. More state programs are on the horizon in 2023 and beyond—and they will help to build additional momentum for a national paid leave program, which a range of communities, including smaller and larger employers, has endorsed. 

Second, private sector innovation has shown the value of paid leave in helping to create healthier and more diverse workforces, with benefits for productivity, retention, and profits. For companies that articulate equity, inclusion, and justice and set goals to achieve gender and racial equity, paid leave is a policy that can help drive positive outcomes.

Despite important business and economic benefits, paid leave leadership is still the exception rather than standard business practice—only 24 percent of private sector workers have dedicated paid family leave at their jobs.

Business can become paid leave leaders by taking the following five actions in 2023:

1. Adopt comprehensive paid family and medical leave programs. Make programs meaningful in terms of duration. Offer a flexible process for returning to work. Make the program reflective of new parents and all workers with caregiving responsibilities. There are examples of great corporate leadership to draw from.
2. Ensure paid leave are provided to all workers, regardless of job, and with minimal tenure requirements. Take a proactive approach to closing the gaps between professional and hourly workers, full-time and part-time workers, and new employees. If a substantial part of your business includes contractors, ensure they have the same policies as your own.
3. Encourage workers to use the policy. Manager training is an essential precondition to the success and utility of your policy, but so is storytelling—from workers and managers, from your employees’ family members, and from company leadership. When leaders can set an example by taking leave of their own, they should do it and talk about it.
4. Measure and report publicly on the impact of your policy. Add to the data about effective paid leave programs, and help answer the questions of other companies looking at new policies, by measuring the relationship between paid leave and retention, advancement, employee health, healthcare costs, and more. Help other companies and policymakers understand the costs and benefits of paid leave by tracking and reporting on the costs and multiple measures of value you see with your newly implemented policy.
5. Advocate for public policies. Officeholders take business leaders’ views with great weight. Help them understand the value, lead on paid leave for everyone, and help dispel preconceptions they might have about business opposition to national paid leave programs.

In addition, be a leader for change within the trade associations you belong to. Don’t let them talk about the value of gender and racial equity and the importance of a strong and diverse workforce while opposing public policies that would help to achieve these goals.

By becoming a paid leave leader, you’ll join other corporate and business leaders on advocating for social justice issues, setting the country on a better path for all.

BSR’s Center for Business and Social Justice works with a network of civil society partners and experts in paid family and medical leave to provide tangible guidance to business. All BSR members can contact the Center for specific inquiries.

Resources to Help Your Company Become a Paid Leave Leader:

Paid Family Leave: Why It’s Essential and How to Design An Effective Policy (ADP)

Designing Equitable and Effective Workplaces for A "Corona-normal" Future of Work (Better Life Lab at New America)

Partnership in Action: An Employer Guide to Building Gender Equity in the Workplace (National Partnership for Women & Families)

9to5 Newsline (9to5 National Membership Organization)

People

Leng Leng Chancey

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People

Vicki Shabo

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Vicki Shabo is a gender equity expert, policy advocate and coalition builder, who has helped to win paid leave, paid sick time, equal pay and pregnancy fairness policies affecting tens of millions of people. For more than a decade, she has been at the forefront of the campaign to win a national paid family and medical leave program.

Learn more about Vicki here.

People

Celine Suarez

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Celine M. Suarez is a Managing Director and Head of Sustainable Finance for the Morgan Stanley Institutional Securities Group (ISG). She brings 20+ years’ experience in sustainability and sustainable finance to the ISG management team. In this role she partners with the investment banking, capital markets, equities and fixed income businesses to drive a cohesive, strategic effort to support clients on ESG themes and sustainable finance activities. She joined the Firm in 2015 and prior to her current role, Celine spent seven years in the Global Sustainable Finance Group, most recently as the Head of Corporate Sustainability and Reporting for the Firm.

Before Morgan Stanley, Celine was a senior consultant at leading boutique sustainability and CSR advisory firms, where she advised major global companies on sustainability strategies. In the first decade of her career, Celine was a buy-side ESG analyst. Formerly, Celine was an adjunct professor and taught a Master’s level Corporate Sustainability course at NYU. She currently is on the Board of Directors for the nonprofit Living Cities, focused on closing racial income and wealth gaps in American cities. She holds an MS in Sustainable Environmental Systems from the Pratt Institute and a BS in Earth System Science from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst.

Blog | Wednesday February 1, 2023

Healthcare Working Group: Driving Change for over Two Decades

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In December 2022, we sunsetted (with pride!) the Healthcare Working Group (HCWG). As BSR’s longest-running collaborative initiative, over 23 years HCWG aimed to improve global health by creating a more sustainable healthcare industry and by empowering companies to maximize the scalability and impact of their response to societal issues.

We have helped an entire sector mature through knowledge sharing between members, identifying opportunities for collective action, and providing leading research on timely subjects from access to healthcare (since 2009), to pandemic preparedness (2017), antimicrobial resistance, the nexus of climate and health (2018), AI (2019), and bioethics (2022).

As we end this collaborative initiative, we reflect on lessons learned, how the healthcare industry is pursuing its sustainability journey, and how we contributed to systemic change for a more just and sustainable world.

"The Healthcare Working Group provided a practical way for companies, like Johnson & Johnson, to collaborate across sectors on impactful projects, while also allowing members to openly discuss concerns, identify opportunities, and share best practices. In addition to the expertise brought by BSR, the Working Group also hosted numerous external experts who provided updates on ESG and sustainability trends and insights, which we brought back and incorporated into our organization.”

- Kyle Peoples, Director, Enterprise ESG Program Office, Johnson & Johnson

Improving Global Health through a Sustainable and Resilient Sector

HCWG’s mission was to empower member companies to be more sustainable, and strive to achieve a more resilient industry.

We worked collectively to build our understanding of emerging ESG issues with an industry lens, from access to healthcare to climate change resilience and bioethics. Companies could openly share best practices and challenges. We engaged external stakeholders on a regular basis, either collectively during our meetings or via one-to-one interviews, and built on our work with other industries that were more advanced on certain issues, e.g., the tech industry and the use of AI.

In 2013, we took a collective public positioning with the Guiding Principles on Access to Healthcare (GPAH), an industry-led call for cross-sector collaboration to expand access to quality healthcare signed by the CEOs of 13 major pharmaceutical companies, including GSK, Johnson & Johnson, Novartis, Sanofi, Takeda.

Empowering Leaders to Build a More Resilient Industry

Over two decades, we empowered industry leaders, helping them understand ESG issues and stakeholders' perspectives and integrate these into business operations.

We developed guidance and tools on emerging industry issues. Here are a few examples of our contributions to advancing the sector:

• Our 2016 Advancing Access to Healthcare Metrics report paved the way to improving the quality and comparability of metrics by increasing the focus on outcomes and by providing related guidance on monitoring and evaluation methodology.
• In 2017, the Innovative Finance to Expand Access to Healthcare paper aimed to catalyze innovative finance partnerships that would unlock more financial resources.
• The 2018 nexus between Climate and Health is still being referenced as helping companies understand their impact and building climate resilience.
• More recently, the Access to Healthcare Leadership Ladder was developed to provide a maturity diagnostic and ambition-setting tool aimed at driving progress on access to healthcare.

“LEO Pharma piloted BSR´s Access to Leadership Ladder with the aim to measure and set targets for our maturity in providing access to health. This tool has provided valuable processes that highlight gaps, and has kickstarted organizational discussion of roles and responsibilities with a standard framework developed within the healthcare industry.”

- Klaus Legau, Executive Advisor, Global Stakeholder Engagements, LEO Pharma

Improved Maturity on ESG Issues

Over the years, we have seen increased maturity on several ESG issues. Access to healthcare is now embedded into operations, with dedicated access teams, programs and even business units. We also see appetite for deeper engagement on other issues, including sustainability reporting, human rights management, diversity and inclusion, and sustainable supply chains.

We are also observing how different segments of the industry are advancing their sustainability journey. While big pharma companies embraced sustainability years ago and dedicated important resources to this, medical devices companies have now built strong strategies and programs to address their priority issues. Contract manufacturing organizations and other healthcare service providers are also integrating sustainability in their operations to answer requests from customers, investors, and regulators. Investors’ scrutiny is also driving life science companies to identify their ESG priorities through materiality assessment, even at the pre-revenue stage.

Anticipating the Future of Healthcare and Upcoming ESG Priorities

Pandemics, climate change, conflicts, and antimicrobial resistance call for collaboration between public and private sectors as never before. Health equity is now a top priority across many segments of the industry, as COVID-19 increased the focus on equitable access to healthcare in both developed and developing countries.

We are also supporting our members to navigate emerging ethical issues and human rights management across the value chain. Finally, we see companies and stakeholders building closer connections between environmental and social topics—which can be illustrated by the recent landmark resolution that recognizes a clean, healthy environment as a universal human right.

We thank the Healthcare Working Group members, both companies and individuals, for their drive, insight, and dedication over the past two decades—we are proud of what we achieved together.

We look forward to exploring new emerging issues with our healthcare members through other avenues: our membership engagement, events, and other collaborative initiatives.

People

Mona Feneberg

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Mona supports BSR member companies across consumer products companies in respecting human rights across their organizations and value chains. Her primary area of expertise include human rights and promoting gender justice within global value chains.​

Prior to joining BSR as a full-time staff member, Mona interned and worked as a student assistant at BSR, supporting collaborative initiatives as well as BSR’s general consulting services, focusing on human rights and equity, inclusion, and justice. Mona also interned at the Chamber of Industry and Commerce in Munich, Germany, and she worked with CenTouris, an institute focusing on market and economic research, where she participated in research and consulting projects across topics and industries.​

Mona holds a MSc in Business and Development Studies, focusing on Gender Studies, from Copenhagen Business School and a BA in International Cultural and Business Studies from the University of Passau. Her master thesis was a feminist critique from a critical development studies perspective of workplace-based women’s empowerment programs. Mona speaks German, English, French, and is currently learning Danish.

Blog | Wednesday January 25, 2023

Upcoming Regulations in ESG Ratings: Three Implications for Business

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The field of ESG ratings is in a phase of rapid growth—as of today, it is estimated that there are 150 different ESG data providers in the market, and these figures are expected to grow with continued consideration from investors. The estimated scale of ESG-related assets under management (AUM) is predicted to reach US$53 trillion by 2025, equivalent to a third of all global investments. 

This fast-paced development is due to an increasing regulatory focus on ESG in potential investments with the EU Taxonomy and the Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation (SFDR), together with more sophisticated demand from investors for products that shift society to a greener economy and help mitigate climate change. These two drivers are only likely to increase in intensity over the coming years, leading to ESG ratings taking on a key role in the ecosystem of sustainable finance.

However, with increased influence comes increased scrutiny, and the rapid development of this industry has rendered vocal criticism. This often points to the lack of common standards, as there is no unified definition of what “ESG” should be measuring. Instead, different ESG raters provide indicators on different aspects of sustainability, and applied methodologies vary.

ESG raters often find varying conclusions, despite access to the same information, and on average, the correlation between the leading providers’ scoring of the same company can be as low as 0.54. In comparison to the regulated field of credit ratings, where correlation is close to 0.99, this stands out. Consequently, the market receives mixed signals about ESG performance, and business, in turn, gets mixed messages about what steps to take to improve their scores. Plus, there is often limited transparency around underlying methodologies due to confidentiality, which makes it difficult for companies to understand the criteria used to assess them.

All these factors have created legitimate concerns over greenwashing, questioning the reliability of these ratings and how well they reflect a company’s commitment to ESG. Consequently, voices have started to call for regulations in the industry. There is a need for more standardization, to calibrate the market so that actors are more aligned with the help of regulatory initiatives.

In 2022, Japan’s Financial Services Agency released a Code of Conduct for ESG rating and data providers. This is the first of its kind being issued by a national regulator, consisting of six principles covering transparency around methodologies and data sources, with a comply-or-explain approach. Emerging trends are starting to move in other parts of the world—for instance, the UK government has established a working group for a voluntary best practice code for ESG raters, looking to bring them within the scope of the Financial Conduct Authority. Similarly, the European Commission expects to issue regulation to monitor the reliability and transparency of ESG ratings in 2023, as part of the European Green Deal.

Regulations seem to soon be the new reality for ESG rating agencies. But what are the implications for business? Is this good news?

• Common language: Despite being rolled out in different global jurisdictions, regulatory frameworks in the making all strive for alignment of terms used in ESG ratings to enable common understanding across the industry. A cohesive terminology adopted by policymakers and regulators creates increased consistency for issuers and a chance to streamline sustainability efforts and related public disclosure.
• Increased transparency: There is an increased demand for an improved understanding of how ESG raters arrive at their scorings, and upcoming regulations all promote more transparency around methodologies, data gathering, and the weight of certain metrics to assess ESG performance. Better insight into the rating criteria enhances issuers’ understanding of what it takes to improve their scores, target selected areas, and come out stronger in the next assessment.
• Less greenwashing: One of the main objectives of regulating the ESG ratings field is to crack down on greenwashing and avoid (sometimes unintentional) misleading claims on ESG performance. Improved transparency of rating objectives and methodologies makes it more difficult for issuers to inflate their sustainability credentials, especially when overseen by a regulatory body. This puts increased pressure on companies to prevent exaggeration and instead back up their sustainability claims with hard evidence.

While upcoming regulations will serve to make life easier for rated companies, it is a double-edged sword, as it simultaneously raises expectations to deliver on sustainability commitments. But at the end of the day, this is good news for everyone. ESG ratings play an important part in supporting the sustainable investing landscape and are here to stay; seeking a more harmonized and transparent system and eradicating claims for greenwashing will help create trust in this industry.

This is a win-win not only for rated companies and investors subscribing to the ratings, but also for the ESG raters themselves.

Blog | Thursday January 19, 2023

2023: Delivering Just and Sustainable Business Amidst Polycrisis

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As we enter 2023, it is easy to focus only on the polycrisis, the numerous and interconnected challenges business and the world are facing. It is more compelling, and certainly more useful, to focus on the immense array of opportunities to build on progress that is well within our grasp.

We should not learn the wrong lesson from the upheavals of the early 2020s. Instead, we should recognize that we clearly know what the challenges are, and embrace the fact that many business leaders have responded to health, social, political, and environmental challenges by raising ambition.

It is now time to deliver on that ambition.

Indeed, the unexpected developments of the past three years should serve as stark reminders of the essential value of our shared agenda: a rapid and inclusive transition to a clean energy economy; equitable societies and economies that work for all; business advocacy for policy solutions and good public policy; and corporate governance that eschews short-termism in favor of long-term leadership that benefits both business and society, all reinforced by global cooperation.  

Some would dismiss these as luxuries during a time of change and disruption, others that they represent a hijacking of business by unwise social engineering. These arguments, many of them quite cynical, are fundamentally wrong. In fact, just and sustainable business is indispensable to building resilient, innovative companies; healthy and prosperous societies; and a stable natural environment that can sustain human life.

BSR is looking forward to advancing these objectives through our insights, advice, and opportunities for system-changing collaboration.

Our priorities for 2023 include:

• Business transformation
• Reporting and disclosure in support of value creation
• Net-zero transformation 
• Climate justice and just transition
• Preserving nature
• Advancing social justice
• Creating a fair and inclusive economy
• Human rights amidst a changing geopolitical environment and new technologies

Our work entering 2023 is defined also by the need to ensure that just and sustainable business delivers on its promise. We will take head on the important questions about the delivery gap and how to define elements of ESG consistently and with integrity. Ensuring that sloppiness and misleading information is out of bounds is crucial. Put another way, there are legitimate questions about whether just and sustainable business commitments are being translated into real action that makes a difference: these questions must be addressed, with action. 

At the same time, we will continue to counter the many cynical voices seeking to misrepresent ESG, or just and sustainable business, as somehow inconsistent with business objectives.

There is no doubt that the world will continue to deliver the unexpected. Whatever happens in 2023, we know that there are fundamentally sound business and social reasons to double down on delivering on sustainability commitments. This is precisely what we continue to hear from each and every one of our 300+ member companies. This is why investors continue to shift capital to just and sustainable business, and it’s why regulators are focusing increased attention on ESG. And it’s why we are excited to get underway in the new year.

Reports | Tuesday January 17, 2023

Action for Sustainable Derivatives: Annual Update on Progress, 2022

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The latest update from Action for Sustainable Derivatives (ASD), an industry-led collaboration aimed at achieving sustainable production and sourcing of palm oil derivatives, discusses its progress in 2022, from deploying joint action to engage the palm derivatives supply chain, market, and transformation in key production areas to amending priorities to track developments and prepare members for compliance.

Highlights include collective transparency for 1,030,000 tons of palm-based materials—almost a 25 percent increase in the volume covered during ASD's second year. This represents around 1.4 percent of the global palm production and 10-20 percent of the palm kernel oil-based oleochemicals market.

Learn more about ASD's impact. 

Blog | Friday January 13, 2023

Six Actions for Business in Post-Roe America

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The fall of Roe v. Wade in 2022 reinforced that abortion access is a workforce and economic issue. Thousands of companies, from the Fortune 500 to small businesses, acted in the wake of the US Supreme Court decision, demonstrating that abortion access is about the health, safety, and well-being of workers as well as part of gender equity in the workplace.

Twenty-four states now have laws on the books that could outright ban or severely limit access to abortion for tens of millions of women, and only 14 states have passed laws that would explicitly protect the right to abortion since Roe fell. Meanwhile, bellwether ballot initiatives last year across six states, including Kansas, Kentucky, and Michigan, affirm that most voters want decisions about healthcare to remain between patients and providers.

This ongoing public health crisis sets up companies as a firewall when it comes to enabling access to abortion—a form of healthcare that one in four women may need over the course of their careers. Employees are aware of this as well. According to data from Catalyst, one in three employees is considering leaving their job due to their employer’s disappointing response to the overturning of Roe v. Wade. 

Stories are coming out about the severe impact and consequences of the overturn of Roe and state abortion restrictions on women and their families. In Louisiana, two emergency rooms turned a mom away when she was experiencing a miscarriage; a former South Carolina beauty queen and her husband have become unlikely abortion access advocates; and in Texas, a woman and her partner may not be able to have children because of delays and dangerous complications to her obstetric care. Notably, maternal and infant death rates are already higher in states that ban or restrict abortion despite the business case for stronger health care coverage and benefits.

In this context, access to medication abortion is more important than ever. According to new research on Talent and Social Policies conducted by Morning Consult, on behalf of BSR: 

• By a 2:1 margin, workers want to live in a state where abortion is legal and accessible. 
• Nearly half of workers are concerned for themselves or their partner being criminally charged or going to prison for having an abortion in a state where it is illegal. 
• More than a third of workers are concerned about having enough money for themselves or their partner to travel out of state for an abortion. 

What actions can companies take in 2023 given the post-Roe reality in America?

1. Continue to Mitigate Harm on the Workforce

• Audit the availability of abortion care within provider networks through your medical plans in all the states in which you have a footprint, including remote workers. Ensure that employees can go out of network at no added cost, if necessary, and that travel costs are covered in addition to paid sick leave. Companies can also revisit practices to support pregnant workers who travel to states where abortion is illegal and may need to access care in emergencies. 
• Ensure programs actually close the gap on abortion access for workers who may not be eligible for regular benefits, such as hourly workers, contractors, and populations within your workforce that already face barriers to healthcare and financial security. 
• Strengthen your reproductive health benefits to go beyond the minimum requirements imposed by the Affordable Care Act when it comes to contraception, health screenings, and other prevention measures. 
• Communicate with your workforce about the benefits and other programs available to help them access time-sensitive and confidential healthcare. 
  
  The Pro Repro Playbook provides free guidance to companies on developing and implementing benefits to support the reproductive health of their employees. Download a copy here.

2. Advocate

• At the national level, support codifying abortion access and let members of Congress know that employers oppose national abortion bans. Additionally, employers can make the case to officeholders to support efforts that reduce barriers to reproductive healthcare as a matter of worker wellbeing as well as implications on regulatory authority, interstate travel and commerce.
• As many states will see additional abortion restrictions introduced in legislatures across the country, companies can contact officeholders about the onerous impact on employers and the chilling effect that restrictions have on the state business climate. Additionally, restrictions on access to FDA-approved medication for abortion may be especially problematic and chaotic for employers. Medication abortion accounts for more than half of all abortion care in the US and is also used to manage miscarriage. It is approved by the FDA. In November 2022, the abortion opponents who helped to overturn Roe v. Wade filed a lawsuit in the Northern District Court in Texas, asking a federal judge to undo decades-old approval of mifepristone for medication abortion and miscarriage management. Learn more about the medication abortion rulings and how companies can respond.
• Use your voice in metro, state, and national business associations to counter the advancement of abortion restrictions by officeholders. 
• Join Don’t Ban Equality, a platform that enables companies to work with industry peers across the private sector as well as other influential organizations on the workforce impact and economic costs of abortion restrictions.   

3. Align Political Contributions 

Align—once and for all—public positions and political influence with operational and workforce policies. Abortion access is now legislated in every state, and a company’s public and internal commitments to worker health and well-being as well as gender equity may directly contradict political contributions and influence. This contradiction will increasingly become untenable for employees, customers, and other stakeholders.

• Review the criterion for making political contributions and test what giving preference to candidates and organizations that support abortion access could look like. Be prepared to defend your position.
• If reallocation is not possible, commit to educating recipients of political donations on how their positions on social issues harm your workforce and business environments. Appeal to them to reprioritize their agendas.

4. Audit Corporate Matching and Workplace Giving

Do not authorize corporate matching or workplace giving for anti-abortion organizations that infringe on reproductive health access. Consider criteria for organizations that receive corporate donations, including passive tools such as matching and payroll deduction. 

5. Make Abortion Access Part of Event and Office Site Selection

• Companies are enacting travel policies that restrict hosting events in places where abortion is illegal or inaccessible. Increased restrictions are prompting new questions relevant to site selection, including access to care and treatment for workers facing urgent health crises, let alone new threats of invasive law enforcement action. 

6. Minimize Data Collection in Products and Services

The collection of user data by companies and tracking of users’ online activity about reproductive health creates significant risks to seekers and providers of healthcare services and unnecessary reputational risk for employers.

• Minimize the collection and storage of user data, particularly data about reproductive health.
• Take a human rights-based approach to respond to government or law enforcement requests for user data. Using the Global Network Initiative Principles as a starting point, respond to law enforcement requests in ways that protect user rights.

The fall of Roe was just the beginning of a new and tumultuous landscape in 2023, leaving employers to navigate an increasingly complex patchwork of new and proposed restrictions. Access to abortion is part of gender equity; diversity, equity, and inclusion; and the operational considerations that inform worker safety and well-being. The costs of inaction or insufficient action are increasing.

BSR’s Center for Business and Social Justice works with a network of civil society partners and experts in reproductive health to provide tangible guidance to business. All BSR members can contact the Center for specific inquiries.