Who is sitting at the decision table? Specifically, what’s their gender? Their race? Their sexual orientation? NASDAQ wants to know. This month it asked the government for permission to require companies listed on that stock exchange to publicly disclose diversity stats for their boards of directors.
And NASDAQ wants to require those publicly traded businesses to have at least two diverse board members. The Dallas Business Journal reports that of the top 40 local companies listed on the NASDAQ, they could only find board diversity information for 26. And they found that nearly half of those 26 wouldn’t meet NASDAQ’s new goal for diversifying boardrooms if the new rule was implemented today.
What has happened with 401(k) matches in the pandemic
Those who are making the corporate decisions need to think about this: It has been a very challenging year, but a huge firm called Ascensus that helps companies manage their 401(k) programs has been in the news because 21% of the companies it assists with retirement plans reportedly reduced or suspended their retirement plan matching contributions earlier in the pandemic.
Ascensus reports that two-thirds of them have since resumed their matches. But that means quite a few employers still aren’t matching like they were. It’s critical to point out that a pandemic survey by Willis Towers Watson found that during the pandemic, 63% of employees said their retirement plans are more important than ever. And 53% identified saving for retirement as the most important help their employers provide.