21 Asia-Pacific Companies Recognized in Refinitiv’s 2020 Diversity & Inclusion Index

• Refinitiv’s Diversity & Inclusion Index measures relative performance
  against multiple factors that define diverse and inclusive workplaces.
• 21 companies across eight countries in Asia-Pacific (APAC) are included in
  the 2020 D&I Index Top 100 List.
• Australia continues to lead the region with nine firms ranked among the top
  100, followed by Japan and Malaysia with three companies each.
• These companies come from a wide range of industries, including Computers,
  Phones & Household Electronics, Food & Drug Retailing,
  Telecommunications and Natural Gas Utilities, among others.

SINGAPORE/SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA�- Media OutReach - 17 September 2020 – Refinitiv today announced the 2020 Top
100 most diverse and inclusive organizations globally as ranked by the
Diversity & Inclusion (D&I) Index. The index ratings are
informed by Refinitiv’s Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) data,
designed to transparently and objectively measure the relative performance of close
to 10,000 companies representing 80%+ of global market cap across 450+ ESG data points, and provide clients with
critical and differentiated insight.   

 

Industries leading this
year’s D&I Index Top 100 are banking,
investment services & insurance firms with a total of 18, followed by pharmaceuticals
with 9 and telecommunications services, specialty retailers and personal &
household products & services with 7 respectively.  United States leads the Top 100 list with 20
firms followed by the United Kingdom with 13, Australia with 9 and Canada and
France with 7.

 

Key findings of the Refinitiv Diversity and Inclusion report for 2020 include:

 

• Globally the cultural diversity of board members has increased from five
  years ago but has stalled at around 30%.
• EMEA leads the way with the most culturally and gender diverse boards.
• The average board in APAC is made up of 12% female members, which
  represents a 53% increase over the last 5 years, but it is still behind the
  global average of 19% of female board members.
• Regionally, Africa is leading the way with on average 34% of female
  managers.
• The average proportion of female managers in APAC firms is 25%, an 18%
  increase over the last 5 years. 
• The number of companies with an official flexible working policy has
  increased by 78% in APAC and 54% globally over the last five
  years. 
• A total of 34% more APAC companies and 25% more companies globally have a
  career development policy in place than five years ago.
• Regionally the largest increases have been seen in Oceania with a 40%
  increase.
• Although APAC businesses recorded improvements across various D&I
  metrics, there is still room for APAC businesses to strengthen its D&I
  efforts, especially in area of board cultural diversity.

“21
companies across eight countries in APAC are recognized among the top 100 most
diverse and inclusive organizations globally in our 2020 D&I Index,” said
Alfred Lee, Managing Director, Asia Pacific at Refinitiv. “We have seen
encouraging progress among APAC firms in their efforts to increase workplace
diversity and inclusiveness, with our data showing a 53% increase in the
region’s board gender diversity over the last five years and a 78% increase in
the number of APAC companies with an official flexible working policy during
the same period. With investors and businesses paying more attention to D&I
practices and disclosures in the region, we are confident that more APAC
organizations will be taking the lead in embedding diversity and inclusion into
their business strategy going forward.”

“It’s
fantastic to see 9 Australian companies from a range of industries in the top
global 100 this year, with supermarket chain Woolworths gaining top spot in Australia
for the second year running. AGL Energy and Blackmores rank second and third
respectively. When
looking at the APAC data it is encouraging see that Australia has the largest overall
percentage of female managers. Diversity and inclusion
continues to garner increased attention, with areas such as board diversity
hotly debated,” said Daryl Sisson, Managing Director, Pacific at Refinitiv.

“Six
ASEAN companies from Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand earned a place in this
year’s D&I Index Top 100, with Thailand’s Home Product Center PCL leading
the Southeast Asia region,” said Vernice Moh, Managing
Director, ASEAN at Refinitiv. “Our data also found that Malaysia and Singapore
have seen an 89% and 88% rise in board gender diversity respectively over the
last five years, which are among the largest increases in proportion of women
on boards globally. While there is still room for Southeast Asian countries to
create a more diverse and inclusive workforce relative to global and regional
peers, transparent reporting of D&I data and targets will enable ASEAN
companies to share best practices and further the region’s progress in the
years to come.” 

The D&I Index is available on Refinitiv Workspace and Eikon, as are the underlying diversity and inclusion metrics,
which are used by financial professionals to evaluate sustainability related
risks and opportunities of companies across their investments, as well as
empower diversity-lens investing strategies. The D&I Index utilizes
innovative analytics to rate and score companies across 4 main pillars: Diversity,
Inclusion, People Development and Controversies. Only
companies with scores across all four pillars are assigned an overall score
(the average of the pillar scores). The top 100 ranked companies with the best
overall D&I scores are selected for the Index.   

Diversity and Inclusion in
the workforce are core environmental, social and governance (ESG) themes, which
financial professionals are more frequently incorporating into their investment
strategies and capital allocation decisions. 
COVID-19 has shone a light on why diversity is critical for business
recovery and resilience. As companies look to adapt to a new way of conducting
business post-COVID-19, diversity and inclusion factors need to be on the
agenda alongside financial resilience, environmental risks and workforce
health.

 

“The
global pandemic and social unrest this year has reinforced the focus on
diversity and inclusion in the workplace coming from different business
stakeholder groups,” said Elena Philipova, global head of ESG at
Refinitiv. “Our Diversity and Inclusion Index, now in its fifth year,
emphasizes the critical importance for companies to commit to, measure and
report on their diversity journey beyond gender. Sustainable and resilient
workforce is the fuel for businesses especially during volatile times. Refinitiv
remains fully committed to using our data assets, expertise and influence to
champion the importance of diversity and inclusion in the workplace — including
our own.”

 

For the second annual report, Refinitiv analyzed trends in diversity and
inclusion data, covering the following areas: trends in diversity and inclusion
data reported by public companies over the last five years; long/short
portfolio analysis using the Portfolio Analytics app in Refinitiv Eikon®; and the
constituents of the Refinitiv 2020 Diversity and Inclusion Index (based on the
second quarter 2020 index rebalance).

 

For more information about the Diversity and Inclusion report for 2020,
please visit:

https://www.refinitiv.com/en/resources/special-report/diversity-and-inclusion-at-workplace

 

The D&I
Index, launched in 2016, ranks the top 100 publicly traded companies globally
with the most diverse and inclusive workplaces, as measured by 24 metrics
across four key categories: Diversity,
Inclusion, People Development and
News Controversies. The Index is then calculated by weighing each metric
based on importance in the market and how each company compares with its peers.

 

APAC Companies in the Top 100 D&I
Index and their corresponding overall D&I percentage score (%): 

Ranking	Company	Country	Overall Score
13	Sony Corp	Japan	76.75
24	Home Product Center PCL	Thailand	74.5
31	Singapore Airlines Ltd.	Singapore	73.25
35	Singapore Telecommunications Limited	Singapore	73
36	Shiseido Company, Limited	Japan	73
37	DiGi.Com Bhd	Malaysia	73
48	Woolworths Group Ltd	Australia	71.25
50	AGL Energy Ltd	Australia	71.25
52	Korea Gas Corp	South Korea	71.25
57	Petronas Gas Bhd	Malaysia	70.5
58	Blackmores Limited	Australia	70.5
61	CSL Limited	Australia	70.25
67	Cathay Financial Holding Co., Ltd.	Taiwan	70
73	Arvida Group Ltd	New Zealand	70
75	Commonwealth Bank of Australia	Australia	69.75
81	InvoCare Limited	Australia	69.75
84	Nomura Holdings Inc	Japan	69.5
87	NIB Holdings Limited	Australia	69.5
88	Nestle (Malaysia) Berhad	Malaysia	69.5
93	Ausnet Services Ltd	Australia	69.25
95	Vita Group Limited	Australia	69.25

For more information about the D&I Index
(Methodology) please visit: https://www.refinitiv.com/content/dam/marketing/en_us/documents/methodology/diversity-inclusion-rating-methodology.pdf

For a complete list of the Top 100 Most Diverse & Inclusive
Organizations Globally, please visit: https://www.refinitiv.com/en/sustainable-finance/diversity-and-inclusion-top-100

To learn
what top-ranked institutions are saying about the D&I index, please visit:
https://www.refinitiv.com/content/dam/marketing/en_us/documents/reports/diversity-and-inclusion-quotes.pdf

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