Berkshire Hathaway Inc: Effective Oversight of Workforce Practices to Support Long-Term Value Creation

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WHEREAS:  Human capital management extends far beyond operational efficiency. It shapes economic mobility, community well-being, and the resilience of labor markets. The way companies recruit, train, compensate, and protect workers has measurable effects on productivity, income stability, and social equity across industries and regions. Inadequate attention to these factors contributes to systemic challenges such as wage stagnation, unsafe working conditions, and workforce displacement, which in turn generate material risks for investors and the broader economy. Strong human capital management has also been consistently linked to long-term value creation for companies.[1]

Lack of Central Oversight Heightens Human Capital Risks Across Berkshire Subsidiaries

Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (“Berkshire”) has a highly decentralized business model. Its operating subsidiaries are largely free to manage their own operations, personnel, and policies, with Berkshire’s central role focused on capital allocation, oversight, and financial reporting.

Today, in addition to new leadership, Berkshire’s subsidiaries operate in an increasingly complex and volatile environment that directly affects workforce stability, operational efficiency, and long-term value creation. For example, within Berkshire’s holdings, NetJets’ pilots’ union has raised concerns about the company’s pilot training, safety and maintenance cultures.[2] Lubrizol has also seen safety and training concerns, including a fire that caused $380 million in property damage[3] and led to a class action lawsuit that was settled for $94.5 million.[4] Safety practices and cultural cohesion, teams that work well and effectively together, is essential to the successful operation of many of the Berkshire businesses, such as BNSF Railway, Berkshire Hathaway Energy, and Johns Manville.

The company’s decentralized structure creates exposure to inconsistent approaches to human capital management across the Berkshire portfolio.

Transparency in Human Capital Management Is Critical to Managing Long-Term Risk

Investors lack information on how Berkshire’s subsidiaries effectively manage talent, retention, and workforce transitions, or how the Company assesses and manages the Company’s exposure to risk, including diversity and inclusion.”[5]

Disclosing the Board’s approach to human capital management would:

  • Support continuity in Berkshire’s governance during its leadership transition;

  • Reinforce strategic alignments and enable synergies and sharing of learnings across its subsidiaries on core workforce challenges;

  • Improve risk management and capital stewardship; and

  • Strengthen investor confidence and support governance continuity during a time of organizational change.

BE IT RESOLVED:  Shareholders request that Berkshire Hathaway Inc., at reasonable cost and omitting proprietary information, publish a report disclosing the Board’s oversight framework for workforce and human-capital management across its operating subsidiaries.

Resolution Details

Company: Berkshire Hathaway Inc

Lead Filers: Myra Young, Represented by As You Sow

Year: 2026

Filing Date: 
November 2025

Initiative(s): Diversity and Gender Equality

Status: Filed

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Social JusticeAs You SowDEI, Diversity, Gender Equity, Equity, Berkshire Hathaway Inc, Berkshire, Berkshire Hathaway