Based on its analysis of shareholder support for pay equity shareholder proposals since 2021, and with a view toward risk mitigation, in this post: “Pay Equity-Related Shareholder Proposals in 2023,” Orrick identifies common practices among companies that failed to deflect a majority vote, as well as suggested practices that are associated with reduced shareholder support, for these types of proposals.
Notably, shareholder support for pay equity shareholder proposals has been in the 34% to 42% support range for the past three seasons and exceeded support for ESG proposals generally during the 2023 proxy season by a fairly wide margin. The post also explains ISS’s and Glass Lewis’s approaches to such proposals, which typically correlate with shareholder support levels.