Investing in quality jobs for a just transition
22 September 2022 - Building on the ILG's Sustainable Investment Framework, the group have published two reports exploring the key concepts, initiatives, and investment impacts on decent work. This paves the way for the development of a simple, robust, and transparent metric for investors to measure and report both the quantitative and qualitative information about their investment impacts on decent work.
The series on Decent Work is presented in two parts: the first reviews the data currently available to investors to assess the number and quality of invested jobs, against a metric to measure investment impact on decent work.
Investing in quality jobs for a just transition: Enhancing disclosure for better measurement of investment impact on decent work
Investing in quality jobs for a just transition: Enhancing disclosure for better measurement of investment impact on decent work reviews what data is currently available to a range of investors to assess the number and quality of invested jobs, and makes targeted recommendations for policy makers, ESG data providers and corporate to fill in the gaps and support investors to better measure their invested impact on quality jobs. This horizon scan finds that despite low levels of necessary disclosure, enlightened asset managers and owners are starting to incorporate consideration of the quality of jobs supported, through asset allocation and engagement decisions.
Investing in quality jobs for a just transition: What can investors do to improve portfolio impact on decent work?
Investing in quality jobs for a just transition: What can investors do to improve portfolio impact on decent work? finds that whilst there have been marginal improvements in the availability of job-related data to inform socially responsible investment decisions, information on the meaningful characteristics of jobs continues to be patchy.
But there are signs investment organisations recognize the clear business case and moral imperative to finance quality jobs. Enlightened institutional investors are starting to act, progressing this agenda through asset allocation, portfolio management, engagement, and measurement strategies.
Drawing on insights and practices from leading investors, this guide distils common challenges and highlights best practice examples undertaken by investors right now, building an action plan for investors to urgently adopt to support decent jobs which is one of the most powerful routes to help people out of poverty, start to tackle inequality, realise human rights and achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
The series calls for following improvements to disclosed data be made to give investors a clear view of their funds’ impact on quality jobs:
- Disaggregate wage data on a country-by-country basis according to investee operating locations, so investors can determine whether worker pay supports a decent way of life in the country they are working in
- Disaggregate wage data to show the medium wage and the number of individuals paid a living and minimum wage, as well as just the total wage paid by a company to get a true picture of wage inequality and the pay of those working under poor conditions
- Detail the proportion of different contract types supported by companies (permanent, fixed term, agency, contractor, zero-hours etc.) to indicate job security
- The number of workplace accidents, in addition to health and safety policies and training on those policies may not reflect incidents that occur
- Instances of discrimination and harassment, and corporate policies that support workers facing discrimination to safely self-report their experiences
- Information on the proportion of workers represented by independent trade union organisations or covered by collective bargaining agreements – largely self-reported by companies - needs to be independently verified
- Significantly greater disclosure on average employee service length