Diverse Representation Methodology
Predicated on the values-based statement: a company should enable and maintain representation of historically underrepresented groups at all levels of the company, including the senior executive.
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Publicly traded companies in the United States are required to annually report certain details about senior executives to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Part of this reporting includes details concerning the company’s 5 most well-paid executives. These details almost always include executive names, titles and total pay. Combined with publicly available biographical information, this data allows Spendwell to compare companies to one another specific to senior executive representation of historically underrepresented groups. This Spendwell ranking is predicated on the values-based statement that a company should enable and maintain representation of historically underrepresented groups at all levels of the company, including the senior executive.
This initial diversity representation ranking includes only gender considerations. Gender is currently the only facet of diversity Spendwell can currently measure without significant risk of misrepresenting individual identities. This is because publicly accessible texts about executives use pronouns. In the future, other important facets of identity will be included in these rankings. When personal identifiers can be ethically sourced, these future facets will likely include additional underrepresented groups specific to race, ethnicity, national origin, LGBTQ+ identity and disability status.
Spendwell’s current diverse representation rankings look at the total number of diverse executives out of the reported pool of executives amongst a company’s highest earners. Companies with greater diverse representation rank higher than companies with less diverse representation. In order to account for fluctuations in employee turnover, Spendwell reports on the last six available years of employee data.
In some reporting instances, Spendwell’s rankings will include private companies with no current, comparable executive information publicly available. These companies might be included in a report, but will be listed as not ranked unless they have voluntarily published necessary information and Spendwell has been made aware of its publication. All ranked companies are ranked based on the previously mentioned data reported to the SEC through annual proxy statements, which can be accessed through the SEC’s Edgar search tool here:
Search for a company by name to view its filed DEF 14A reports.