As You Sow Condemns EEOC Proposal to Eliminate Collection of Workforce Composition Data Investors Need to Assess Risk
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
The proposed rescission of EEO-1 employment data and related reports would end the federal government’s 60 year-long collection of standardized workforce data — despite research showing that the same data is important to predicting company financial performance.
MEDIA CONTACT: Ryon Harms, [email protected], (310) 730-9407
EL CERRITO, CALIFORNIA — July 24, 2026 — As You Sow, the nation’s leading shareholder representative, today raised deep concern about the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission’s vote to issue a notice of proposed rule-making rescinding the requirement that employers file annual EEO-1 and related reports summarizing workforce demographic data. The proposal would end a data collection practice that has successfully operated for more than half a century, and which investors depend on to evaluate human capital risk in companies.
EEO-1 data is one of the only standardized, comparable sources of workforce composition data available to investors. Because employers report the information to the federal government in a consistent format, investors can compare companies on an objective basis rather than relying on corporate marketing or voluntary diversity claims. Eliminating the requirement would remove that comparability at a moment when investors are increasingly focused on workforce stability, human capital management, and the operational risks of rapid workforce change.
“The EEOC is proposing to switch off one of the few objective windows investors have into how public companies manage their workforces,” said Danielle Fugere, President and Chief Counsel of As You Sow. “This data is not a compliance nicety, it is decision-useful financial information. Removing it does not make workforce risk disappear; it simply blinds investors to existing risk and forces them to rely on whatever companies choose to say about themselves. That is diametrically opposite of the transparency efficient markets require.”
Yesterday, As You Sow will released an updated edition of its Capturing the Diversity Benefit report which analyzed nine years of EEO-1 data from 1,482 companies. The analysis found that greater representation of Black, Indigenous, and people of color (BIPOC) in management was significantly and positively associated with income after tax, five- and ten-year revenue growth, return on equity, return on invested capital, free cash flow per share, and five- and ten-year share price appreciation.
“By suppressing information, the EEOC deprives companies, investors, researchers, and the market of useful information that cannot be reconstructed once collection stops,” said Andrew Behar, CEO of As You Sow. “You cannot go back in time to gather years of workforce data that was never recorded. It is a permanent loss dressed up as paperwork reduction.”
This proposed recission is part of a broader pattern of federal action suppressing information of value to investors and the public. Voluntary EEO-1 disclosure among large companies has been declining over the past couple of years due to intense anti-DEI pressure on companies.
Based on EEO-1 data acquired through a Freedom of Information Act request, our report found that most companies choosing not to disclose voluntarily have measurably less diverse management. This makes the information most valuable precisely where it is least likely to be volunteered. If the federal mandate ends, that critical information disappears.
Investors and other interested parties will be able to comment on the proposed rescission of key human capital management data during the 30-day public comment period which opens upon publication in the Federal Register. The EEOC has scheduled a public hearing on the proposal for August 11, 2026.
As You Sow will submit formal comments and continue to press companies to gather and voluntarily disclose workforce data, whatever the outcome of the federal requirement, to promote transparency about workplace diversity, a factor correlated with better financial outcomes.
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As You Sow is the nation’s leading shareholder representative, with a 30+ year track record promoting environmental and social corporate responsibility. As You Sow addresses a range of issues that affect shareholder value including climate change, ocean plastics, toxins in the food system, biodiversity, racial justice, and workplace diversity. See As You Sow’s shareholder resolution tracker.