Starbucks, Google Assailed by Investors Over Gender Policies
- Coffee chain receives first-of-its kind paid-leave proposal
- Investors focus on company gender policies that retain talent
A barista pours frothed milk into a drink inside a Starbucks Corp. coffee shop in New York on Jan. 19, 2016.
Photographer: Victor J. Blue/BloombergThis article is for subscribers only.
Investors focused on social issues are finding that trickle-down diversity doesn’t work.
For years, they surmised that having enough women on boards and in senior management would produce fairer policies. Now investors are changing tactics, saying it’s not enough and that employers also need to implement gender-pay equity and paid-leave policies that attract and retain women.