Gender and Racial Pay Gap

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WHEREAS: Pay inequities persist across race and gender and pose substantial risks to companies and society. Black workers’ median annual earnings represent 77 percent of white wages. The median income for women working full time is 84 percent that of men. Intersecting race, Black women earn 76 percent and Latina women 63 percent.1 At the current rate, women will not reach pay equity until 2059, Black women in 2130, and Latina women in 2224.2

Citigroup estimates closing minority and gender wage gaps 20 years ago could have generated 12 trillion dollars in additional national income. PwC estimates closing the gender pay gap could boost Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) countries’ economies by 2 trillion dollars annually.3

Actively managing pay equity is associated with improved representation. Diversity in leadership is linked to superior stock performance and return on equity.4 Minorities represent 27 percent of American Tower’s workforce and 22 percent of executives. Women represent 35 percent of the workforce and 22 percent of executives.5

Best practice pay equity reporting consists of two parts:

1. unadjusted median pay gaps, assessing equal opportunity to high paying roles,

2. statistically adjusted gaps, assessing whether minorities and non-minorities, men and women, are paid the same for similar roles.

American Tower does not report quantitative unadjusted or adjusted pay gaps. About 50 percent of the 100 largest

U.S. employers currently report adjusted gaps, and an increasing number of companies disclose unadjusted gaps to address the structural bias women and minorities face regarding job opportunity and pay.6

Racial and gender unadjusted median pay gaps are accepted as the valid way of measuring pay inequity by the United States Census Bureau, Department of Labor, OECD, and International Labor Organization. The United Kingdom and Ireland mandate disclosure of median gender pay gaps.7

RESOLVED: Shareholders request American Tower report on both quantitative median and adjusted pay gaps across race and gender, including associated policy, reputational, competitive, and operational risks, and risks related to recruiting and retaining diverse talent. The report should be prepared at reasonable cost, omitting proprietary information, litigation strategy and legal compliance information.

Racial/gender pay gaps are defined as the difference between non-minority and minority/male and female median earnings expressed as a percentage of non-minority/male earnings (Wikipedia/OECD, respectively).

SUPPORTING STATEMENT: An annual report adequate for investors to assess performance could, with board discretion, integrate base, bonus, and equity compensation to calculate:

· percentage median and adjusted gender pay gap, globally and/or by country, where appropriate

· percentage median and adjusted racial/minority/ethnicity pay gap, US and/or by country, where appropriate

1 https://www.census.gov/data/tables/time-series/demo/income-poverty/cps-pinc/pinc-05.html-par_textimage_24 

2 https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5bc65db67d0c9102cca54b74/t/622f4567fae4ea772ae60492/1647265128087/Racial+Gender+Pay+Scorecard+2022+-+Arjuna+Capital.pdf 

3 Ibid.

4 Ibid. 

5 https://www.americantower.com/us/sustainability/social.html 

6 https://diversiq.com/which-sp-500-companies-disclose-gender-pay-equity-data/  

7 https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5bc65db67d0c9102cca54b74/t/622f4567fae4ea772ae60492/1647265128087/Racial+Gender+Pay+Scorecard+2022+-+Arjuna+Capital.pdf