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29 March 2022 | Report

Workplace Gender Equality and Sustainability Reporting: An Initial Analysis of the Top 30 Publicly-Listed Companies in the Philippines as of July 2021

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Summary

The analysis identifies successful approaches that should be promoted more broadly in the private sector, as well as obvious gaps in policy frameworks and data reporting that need addressing to improve WGE outcomes among these leaders.

This policy research analysis aims to:

 

  • Gauge how Philippine publicly listed companies report on material topics, particularly workplace gender equality, women’s economic empowerment, and diversity and inclusion;
  • Provide an overview of the level of materiality and understanding of WGE topics for those who are interested in Sustainability Reporting (e.g., regulators, other PLCs, investors, stakeholders, and consumers);
  • Contribute to the existing research and literature linking gender equality in the workplace and improved business performance;
  • Motivate companies to increase their social disclosure in sustainability reporting as a means of having a competitive edge and raise awareness of the benefits of sustainability reporting.

Contents

 

  • Acknowledgements
  • Executive summary
  • Introduction
  • Objectives and methodology of the analysis
    • Figure 1. Top 30 PLCs in the Philippines by market share as of July 2021
  • Scope and limitations
  • Improving the social standard
  • Workplace gender equality disclosures: initial analysis
    • Gender composition
    • Board diversity
      • Figure 2. Board diversity policy and representation in boards
    • Safe and respectful workplaces
    • Workplace flexibility
      • Flexible working arrangements
      • Parental leave
    • Employee training and development
    • Gender pay equity
  • Conclusion and recommendations
    • Why sustainability and workplace gender equality matter
    • Moving from compliance-based reporting to champion-directed and culture-based approach
  • Bibliography

 

This report was originally published on the Philippine Business Coalition for Women Empowerment (PBCWE) website.

Highlights

  • An increasing number of companies are making it clear that disclosures concerning people are critical to business recovery. True to their impact and influence, companies have publicly demonstrated their responsibility to promote good corporate governance, as well as diverse, gender-equal, and inclusive workplaces for all.
  • The integration of gender data on sustainability reports reinforces the companies’ commitment and accountability to gender equality. Employee data and policies that promote such are deemed material as they concern bottom-line benefits and create opportunities for growth – from its leaders to investors, consumers, and well into its respective teams.
  • While it is good that companies report on basic and overall gender data, the reporting criteria need to be revisited to incorporate specific data points that can accurately reveal the status of Workplace Gender Equality (WGE) in companies.
  • Gender indicators in public reports are a good way to capture various data sets relevant to sustainability. Furthermore, investors are increasingly interested in tracking gender data, and having these in public reports will help investors in identifying PLCs with excellent policies in gender equality. Gender indices are meant to help PLCs benchmark their performance against industry peers and to demonstrate their commitment to gender equality practices.
  • At the same time, reporting organisations and regulators need to capture better measures to accurately present the status of WGE in a company.
  • Having the right WGE data is key for the private sector to assess where they are, address their ongoing challenges, and monitor their progress towards truly moving gender equality forward.

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