Railpen and the Predistribution Initiative invite you to an interactive virtual discussion on worker voice and workforce directors (employees on boards).
Recent pressures on people at work, including the surge in inflation and Covid-19 pandemic, have shone a spotlight on the materiality of workforce issues to company performance, demonstrating that a company’s relationship with its workforce is a source of great potential value, or risk.
To effectively manage these challenges, it is important that senior decision-makers hear the views and concerns of the people they employ. Among a growing range of approaches to employee engagement that businesses might consider, one potentially under-utilised mechanism is the appointment of board directors drawn from and/or appointed by the workforce. It is a common feature of the corporate governance regimes in many European markets, but largely absent from UK and US companies. This could be a missed opportunity in many cases, with suitability of the solution depending on context.
In this webinar, investors will hear from a range of voices around the practicalities of the workforce director model and learn more about the Workforce Directors Coalition, a group of investors advocating for more companies to meaningfully consider the benefits of this approach.
We will cover topics including the role of workforce directors, the potential benefits their appointment can bring, the current extent of workforce representation at the board-level in major markets, considerations for effective implementation, the policy environment, and the role of investors.
Speakers will include:
• Caroline Escott, Senior Investment Manager, Active Ownership, Railpen
• David Foster, Board of Directors, Kaiser Aluminum and Evraz, North America (retired District Director, United Steelworkers)
• Brandon Rees, Deputy Director of Corporations and Capital Markets, AFL-CIO
• Additional speakers TBC
Time:
2 pm UK / 9 am EST / 6 am PST