Investors call for responsible management

Local Pensions Partnership has joined with 307 institutional investors to urge companies to consider the welfare of all stakeholders amid the Covid-19 pandemic.

In the Investor Statement on Coronavirus Response, long-term investors called on companies to protect workers by making emergency paid leave available to all employees, including temporary, part-time, and subcontracted workers and avoiding or limiting exposure to Covid-19 as much as possible by potentially rotating shifts or remote working.

Investors also urged management boards to maintain timely or prompt payments to suppliers, and work with customers facing financial challenges to help to “stabilise the economy, protect our communities and small businesses, and ensure a stable supply chain is in place for business operations to resume normally in the future.”

“We recognise the long-term viability of the companies in which we invest is inextricably tied to the welfare of their stakeholders, including their employees, suppliers, customers and the communities in which they operate,” the statement said.

“Board directors are accountable for long-term human capital management strategy,” the statement continued.

“The companies they oversee have invested in their workforces and will be well served by having retained a well-trained and committed workforce when business operations are able to resume,” it stated.

Alongside the Local Pensions Partnership, signatories included Aviva Investors, the Church of England Pensions Board and Northern LGPS.