Employee disclosures in the grocery industry before the COVID-19 pandemic

Abstract

We provide evidence on the consumer staples industry's commitment and accountability to employees prior to the COVID-19 pandemic by analysing their employee-related disclosures in annual reports. A high level of disclosure exists from 2004 to 2019 with 93 percent of the industry disclosing some information about employees. The highest categories of disclosure are remuneration, health and safety, and training and development. We find that total disclosure is significantly related to having employee share ownership, a Big 4 auditor, a larger board of directors, a majority independent board, independent chair, an audit and nomination committee and higher ROA.