Americans Look to CEOs to Shape Public Policy
Patagonia recently announced it will again close all its stores on Election Day in order to give employees paid time off to vote. In a LinkedIn post announcing the decision, CEO Rose Marcario writes:
“ ‘Corporate citizenship’ gets a lot of lip service, but too few companies stop to consider what citizenship really means. It’s not just about being a good member of your community, crucial as that is. It’s not just about philanthropy, valuable as that can be, too. Citizenship requires something more. It requires supporting democracy. And democracy needs our support more than ever because it’s under attack.”
Marcario’s post covers several hot-button issues facing the country — from concerns about Russian election interference to discriminatory voter ID laws. In the absence of national public policies to make Election Day a national holiday, she says the private sector should follow Patagonia’s lead because “no American should have to choose between a paycheck and fulfilling his or her duty as a citizen.”
Our new research, CEO Activism in 2018: The Purposeful CEO, finds more Americans will support this kind of CEO activism, where CEOs take positions on issues of the day. In fact, we found Americans are increasingly aware of CEO activism, view it favorably and see its potential to influence public policy.
Even in this highly polarized environment, Americans in our survey demonstrate a growing believe that CEOs can advance public policy. Approximately half of Americans surveyed think CEO activism has an influence on the government — this is up 10 percentage points from last year.
Democrats and Republicans alike see CEO activism as legislatively influential at 54 percent and 51 percent, respectively. However, Democrats are significantly more likely than Republicans and Independents to say companies should take positions on social issues, and Republicans are significantly more likely to say companies should stick to business and not take positions on social issues.
The business case builds as Americans say they are more likely to buy from companies with activist CEOs they agree with — 46 percent in 2018 versus 38 percent in the 2017 survey. But that last part is important — consumers will support you if they agree with you. Some topics are safer than others. Of a list of 19 current issues, we asked respondents to pick the ones they feel are appropriate for business leaders. The top issues are decidedly workplace issues:
1. Jobs skills/training (80 percent)
2. Equal pay in the workplace (79 percent)
3. Sexual harassment (77 percent)
4. Privacy and personal data protection (71 percent)
5. Healthcare coverage (70 percent)
6. Maternity/paternity leave (69 percent)
The least desirable issues are the legalization of marijuana (26 percent) and abortion (14 percent).
As we enter into even more turbulent and polarized times with the upcoming mid-term elections, companies will continue to manage expectations as they take stands on different issues. While the upcoming issues may not yet be clear, the ways companies can anticipate and prepare are:
Don’t wait — decide sooner rather than later whether your company wants its CEO speaking out on policy matters. Don’t wait until you have to react.
Involve government affairs team members — they can advise on policy implications and give good insights on the issues landscape.
Make your company values crystal clear, both internally and externally. Make sure that you understand what consumers and employees both want and expect from you.
Make sure your own house is in order before speaking out on any issue. There should be no surprises and no conflict of interests.
Recognize that some issues are “safer” than others. Going outside the realm of workplace management issues, such as job skills and training, can become risky but may be necessary to address if company values collide with political or societal issues.
Our new report is based a survey of 1,006 adult Americans commissioned by global communications and engagement firm Weber Shandwick in partnership with KRC Research. Click here for the full CEO Activism in 2018: The Purposeful CEO presentation and here for our earlier reports on CEO activism as well as our analyses of corporate responses to current issues.
