In the wake of COVID-19 and the social justice movement environment, wealthy investors are paying much more attention to the social element of ESG, specifically how companies treat their employees and respond to political issues. According to a recent survey by Crossmark Global Investments, a leading provider of values-based investment solutions, 59% of investors say their decision to invest in a company would be impacted if that company made significant layoffs due to the pandemic, but the management team did not take pay cuts.

The nationwide survey of high net worth investors revealed findings about how investors view a company's actions when making investment decisions. More than half of investors surveyed (56%) said they are paying more attention to how companies treat their employees this year. Investors also place a high level of importance on corporate actions taken relating to sexist and racist remarks made by a company's employees.  More than half of millennial respondents (ages 18-34) said that an employee should be terminated for making a racist (61%) or sexist (55%) comment. Within the baby boomer generation (ages 55+), less than half of the respondents said a person should be terminated for making a racist (38%) or sexist (32%) comment. This was more pronounced among women, with roughly half (47%) of female respondents across all age groups saying they would be less likely to invest in a company that did not terminate an employee for those actions.

Read the full article about what the majority of high net worth invested say impact their decisions at Markets Insider.