Trillium Reviews Internal Salaries for Possible Gender Pay Gap

MARCH 3, 2016: The financial services sector is routinely found to have one of the widest gaps in pay by gender relative to other parts of the economy. Despite women making up nearly one third of the financial services workforce, on average women earn significantly less than their male colleagues.
At Trillium Asset Management (Trillium) we strive to achieve the same level of diligence and reporting that we ask of companies with whom we interact.
Our firm recently filed a shareholder proposal with Citigroup (NYSE: C) asking the company to prepare a report demonstrating that the company does not have a gender pay gap. Citigroup submitted a “Statement of Intent to Exclude” notice (commonly known as a “no-action request”) with the SEC on the grounds that the proposal was “vague” and investors were attempting to “micromanage the company’s employment practices” by asking for non-proprietary gender pay information. The SEC rejected Citigroup’s assertion and has permitted the proposal to appear on the company’s proxy statement to be published later this month. Shareholders will vote on the proposal at Citigroup’s annual meeting, which will be held in the Spring.
Trillium believes that companies and workers benefit from consistent, corporate-wide efforts to prevent discrimination, ensuring a respectful and supportive atmosphere for all employees.
While Trillium is a small employee-owned firm with fewer than 50 employees, our Partners recently reviewed employee compensation to determine whether there is a pay imbalance between genders. Our statistical analysis indicates that after controlling for experience, role, training, hours of work and certification, gender has no statistically significant relationship to pay at our company.
Going forward, Trillium will routinely review our employees’ salaries to ensure that women and men in the company continue to be paid equitably.

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Founded in 1982, Trillium Asset Management is the oldest investment advisor focused exclusively on sustainable and responsible investing. Trillium manages over $2 billion in assets for clients including individuals, foundations, endowments, religious institutions, and other non-profits. Trillium leverages the power of stock ownership to promote social and environmental change while providing both impact and performance to our investors. To learn more, please visit www.trilliuminvest.com.
For more information: Randy Rice, Trillium Asset Management, rrice@trilliuminvest.com, 617-515-6889
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