Most workers just want to be treated as humans – Survey
AMERICANS prioritise one thing above all others when evaluating whether a company is a good corporate citizen: How they treat their workers.
That’s according to a survey released on Thursday of 10,000 Americans by Just Capital, a non-profit co-founded by hedge fund billionaire Paul Tudor Jones II that also assesses and ranks companies for how “just” they are in their business practices. More Americans ranked workers above all other issues or stakeholders – things like customers, products, the environment or communities – when it comes to determining a business’s behaviour. Conducted in partnership with the University of Chicago’s research institution, NORC, the survey found that 85 per cent of Democrats and 72 per cent of Republicans believe companies don’t share enough of their success with workers.
With unemployment at a 17year low, and at a time when “we haven’t seen corporate profits this high and with equity markets at a record high, there’s still a substantial group of working Americans who just are not benefiting from that,” said Martin Whittaker, CEO of Just Capital. “It doesn’t surprise me that workers, and how a company treats its workers, is front and centre.”
The survey also could reveal a missed opportunity for companies that try to promote their social responsibility in a bid to woo consumers or employees who increasingly want to spend money with or work for companies that share their values. According to the survey, 85
per cent of Americans said they would pay more for a product with “just” business practices, while 79 per cent said they would take a pay cut to work at such a firm.
But while many companies tout their environmental practices, their volunteer efforts in local communities or their customer service, the survey offers a reminder that they should consider doing more to convincingly promote higher wages or non- discriminatory hiring practices as a way to set themselves apart. Too many companies, says William Lazonick, an economics professor at University of Massachusetts at Lowell, are “talking about a lot of issues that don’t cost them a lot to deal with and give them a good face. But the fundamentals of how you treat your workers are being neglected.”
The survey found that 23 per cent of respondents ranked workers first when it comes to their priorities for corporate behaviour, and another 10 per cent said job creation comes first, making the workforce far and away the most important factor Americans use to evaluate a company’s actions. It was followed by how they treat their customers (19 per cent), the quality of their products (17 per cent), their treatment of the environment (13 per cent) and their interactions with their local communities (11 per cent). In essence, the report offers a guideline for companies about what business practices are more important to American consumers, such as efficient use of resources, truth in advertising or safe working conditions.
Some companies have distinguished themselves with customers by paying better wages or offering more generous benefits to their employees – Costco’s relatively better pay and health insurance in the retail industry are often noted. But Whittaker suggests a growing transparency about worker pay through social media and sites like Glassdoor or PayScale could prompt it to become even more of a strategic advantage for companies to promote.
“Worker pay, worker treatment, benefits and inclusion and diversity – all of those things have quite recently become lightning-rod issues,” he said. “Only recently have we been getting the data to know.”
Some companies have been increasingly touting their pay or benefits in public relations campaigns, but when they do, they appear more aimed at attracting workers in a tight labour market than appealing to customers who may prefer to buy from worker-friendly companies. For example, more companies, particularly those seeking young workers with high- demand skills in fields like technology and financial services, have been touting their longer family leave benefits, and some retailers have promoted their efforts in recent years to raise their own minimum wages above state or federal baselines.
Whittaker said one thing that surprised him about the survey data was how similar the priorities were across different demographic groups.
“I expected to see wild swings on issues of greatest importance,” he said. “But whether it was political or economic or other cuts of the data, we really didn’t see that. People, for the most part, just want companies to treat people as a human being, whether as a worker or as a customer. That’s table stakes.”
Too many companies are talking about a lot of issues that don’t cost them a lot to deal with and give them a good face. But the fundamentals of how you treat your workers are being neglected. William Lazonick, economics professor at University of Massachusetts