Your Company Survived 2020; It’s Time to Tell the Story
12 months-finish reporting has constantly been a important time for companies to move again and assess their achievements and shortfalls, appraise how these success as opposed to the prior calendar year and set the stage for the upcoming. Given that every single disaster finishes with lessons acquired, innovation and reinvention, proactive companies will capitalize on this unique prospect to move-up their calendar year-finish communications.
For numerous, this will necessarily mean environment a new bar for their calendar year-finish reporting ideal procedures: new depth to earnings experiences, shareholder letters, and proxy statements. These paperwork should take into consideration all stakeholders who want to know much more about what you seasoned in 2020—the strengths and the weaknesses—and what lessons you will use to your 2021 playbook. (See, “10 queries for crafting your 2020 calendar year-finish messaging approach,” at the finish of this posting.)
Equally COVID-19 and the social injustice concerns of 2020 have set a vibrant mild on the relevance of solid Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) procedures, together with variety and inclusion (D&I) and human funds management (HCM). The guiding theory this calendar year is “actions converse louder than words” conversation to all stakeholders. Whilst much more disclosure on D&I in calendar year-finish communications is anticipated, investors are also on the lookout for actionable and measurable initiatives.
The following are some tips for calendar year-finish 2020 communications.
Broaden the variety of subject areas in your shareholder letter.
Yearly report procedures ongoing to evolve in 2020. Numerous substantial-cap leaders shifted from generating a regular stand-by itself once-a-year report to an built-in structure that brings together the once-a-year report with sustainability experiences. For an outstanding case in point of this tactic, see how Jacobs Engineering told the story of its COVID journey even though offering a truth-dependent narrative about the firm’s progress with ESG and D&I.
For a far better 2020 shareholder letter, take into consideration:
- A timely, considerate concept
- A nicely-written and persuasive CEO letter that speaks to all stakeholders, not just shareholders
- Commentary on ESG procedures
- Compelling visuals, together with infographics and phone-out texts to make the document simple to examine and unforgettable
Beyond publicizing your once-a-year report through a press release, extend its attain by incorporating a similar information from the CEO or chairman to your website, publishing report content on social media, and incorporating a limited, nicely-made video clip clip to your trader relations web page.
Evolve the proxy to replicate ideal procedures.
For numerous a long time now, we encouraged that companies leverage the important serious estate in their proxy statements. Proxy procedures have developed alongside with the change to passive investing and the proliferation of ESG resources. Progressively, companies elect to put together much more substantive proxy include letters that integrate their IR tales. That presents proxy readers the context they want to appraise general performance and government payment devoid of browsing for other disclosures.
This is especially vital for companies whose 2020 success were negatively impacted by COVID-19. The purpose right here is to make it a lot easier for chaotic proxy readers to get a holistic watch of the firm and rapidly grow to be far better informed as liable proxy voters. In the latest proxy season, companies are also leveraging their proxies to offer much more facts on their HCM and D&I procedures.
Across the board, we are looking at companies arranging cross-purposeful teams that integrate IR specialists and design assets to compose persuasive proxy letters. The letters are written in plain English with clear-cut site navigation and skilled structure and design elements to engage the reader far better and humanize their board and management team.
For a treasure trove of proxy ideal procedures, see Donnelley Economic Solutions’ (DFIN) “Guide to Helpful Proxies.”
Construct-in an ESG narrative.
ESG communications will matter much more this calendar year. As BlackRock’s Larry Fink mentioned in his 2021 letter to CEOs, “Assessing sustainability dangers requires that investors have accessibility to steady, large-high-quality, and materials public information and facts.”
Respondents to a the latest BlackRock study of institutional investors said they approach to double their sustainable assets less than management (AUM) in the up coming 5 years—from 18{d5f2c26e8a2617525656064194f8a7abd2a56a02c0e102ae4b29477986671105} of AUM currently to 37{d5f2c26e8a2617525656064194f8a7abd2a56a02c0e102ae4b29477986671105} by 2025. From January through November 2020, investors in mutual resources and exchange-traded resources directed $288 billion globally into sustainable assets, a 96{d5f2c26e8a2617525656064194f8a7abd2a56a02c0e102ae4b29477986671105} increase from the overall previous calendar year. Small- and mid-cap companies just embarking on their own ESG communications method can master a great deal from their substantial-cap colleagues who have had nicely-proven ESG plans in place for a long time.
We have encountered some management teams who do not imagine they have an ESG story. Others assume there is no purpose to devote time and assets to ESG. They purpose that their only risk arrives from substantial passive investors who could probably vote proxy against them. As a counterpoint to that watch, we see various persuasive reasons that robust ESG communications give a competitive gain to firms on the lookout to extend their value proposition to all stakeholders.
- ESG fund flows much more than doubled in October from flows in April. According to Morningstar, ESG fund flows climbed to $36 billion through October 2020, and institutional investors said they approach to double their ESG investments around the up coming 5 a long time.
- In the meantime, a developing record of stakeholders has revealed they treatment about ESG. These include things like workforce, especially millennials and more youthful generations, who are in the workforce in terrific quantities. Numerous consumers and potential clients have indicated that they want to do business enterprise with ESG-welcoming companies much too. Progressively, numerous M&A associates, who are pushed by the transaction math of “1+one = 3,” are focused on ESG procedures.
- With the proliferation of new ESG rankings, active investors are also inquiring companies for much more information and facts about ESG, and provide-aspect analysts have taken to publishing experiences ranking companies by their ESG scores.
- Lastly, activism is also anticipated to re-speed up in 2021, and there is a development for working with ESG inadequacies to open up the doorway to an activist campaign. According to Amy Lissauer, global head of activism and raid defense advisory, Lender of The usa, “We’re heading to see the emphasis on environmental and social much more than we have ever found.” She adds that activism has long been focused on the “governance ingredient of ESG investing. What we may see in 2021 that is various is that ESG-focused proposals will get a great deal much more guidance.”
Providers that have not started the ESG journey should get started now—starting with how they took treatment of their stakeholders even though handling through COVID. A terrific way to get the ESG ball rolling is to critique the frameworks produced by Sustainability, Accountability Expectations Board or the Endeavor Pressure on Climate-Associated Economic Disclosures and explain to the ESG story you now have.
Tackle new human funds management disclosures.
Starting up with the 2020 10-K, the SEC requires public companies to report on human funds in SEC filings. The minimal need phone calls for companies to report the amount of people today they utilize and to offer a description of the human funds assets and measurement goals they use to control their business enterprise.
Numerous companies will be grappling with what is materials to their business enterprise and how considerably to disclose. Definitely, a solid workforce is materials to the sustainability of any firm. Begin with addressing what your firm has now done to appeal to, keep and train people today.
Numerous of the 10-K HCM disclosures we have found so much are much more qualitative than quantitative. We imagine that can make sense, especially for companies devoid of a set of thoroughly vetted metrics. Given that the 10-K is not typically the 1st place investors come across information and facts on a firm, we propose together with HCM messages in other important communications supplies, especially the proxy.
COVID taught us numerous lessons. Just one of the most vital is untapped equity in the narrative encompassing your company’s journey through its pandemic calendar year. Productively handling through a disaster of this magnitude and complexity presents your business a unique prospect to develop have confidence in, trustworthiness, and company track record through an amplified emphasis on powerful stakeholder communications.
Whilst the pandemic developed leaders and laggards in every single field and sector, investors will in the end evaluate how nicely companies demonstrated their resilience and adaptability in shaping methods to surmount 2020’s amazing hurdles.
10 queries for crafting your 2020 calendar year-finish messaging approach
- How did you control through COVID in 2020?
- What lessons did you master that will make you a stronger firm in 2021?
- What achievements are you most very pleased of?
- How did you balance the demands of all stakeholders all through the pandemic?
- What ways did you take to advance your ESG story in 2020—to make your office much more various and inclusive and spend forward your HCM initiatives?
- What issues continue being, and what is your approach and timeframe for addressing them?
- What is your take on the speed of restoration in normal and for your field and business enterprise?
- What is your progress approach for 2021 and further than, together with natural and organic progress and M&A potential clients?
- Did your corporation grow to be much more productive and financially rewarding as you modified your business enterprise design in 2020? Is this sustainable?
- How will a new administration in Washington have an impact on your business enterprise?
Moira Conlon is the founder and president of Economic Profiles.