Social Factor Insight
New standards in workforce data.
Good data on workforce issues is hard to access and assess. Social Factor Insight is building the premier repository of information about workforce at companies around the world and extracting nuanced and novel insights that can keep users apprised of potential financial and reputational risk.
THE PROBLEM
Data on a company's workforce—from direct employees and contractors to workers in its supply chain—are often not available as a ready reference for investors and other stakeholders. Information is distributed across numerous data sources and is often not directly comparable among these sources. Valuable information may be buried in ad hoc disclosures or third-party documents. As a result, mainline corporate and financial market data vendors generally offer little information on workforce, and even ESG data providers are often knocked for the "missing S."
THE SOLUTION
SFI's sole focus is social (and especially workforce) issues, an area in which we have extensive expertise. We access a wide variety of data sources, dive deeply into each, build automated pipelines to acquire and systematize the information, provide common measures that allow apples-to-apples comparison of companies with their peers, and make these available for clients in an easily digestible format. We do this on scale.
ACTIONABLE INSIGHTS / SMARTER INVESTING / WORKFORCE ADVANCEMENT /DEEP DIVES
ABOUT SFI
SFI's spark comes from the passion and drive of its founders, Tom Powdrill and John Burant. Having worked at the intersection of workforce advocacy, capital markets, data science, and corporate strategy and financial analysis, they bring what’s needed to solve the workforce data problem and deliver insights to SFI’s clients.
CO-FOUNDER: TOM POWDRILL
After a stint as a financial journalist, Tom went to work engaging companies and investors on behalf of labour at the UK's Trades Union Congress and the International Transport Workers' Federation. He most recently worked at Europe’s leading independent proxy advisory firm, Pension and Investment Research Consultants, where he served as Director of Stewardship. Tom brings a deep understanding of worker, management, and investor perspectives to engagements with SFI clients and partners. His knowledge of social issues and corporate governance drives SFI’s research and products.
CO-FOUNDER: JOHN BURANT
John earned a Ph.D. in theoretical chemistry before beginning a twenty-year tenure at the Service Employees International Union. In the United States, he built a team focused on analyzing corporations active in the union’s industrial sectors, led collective bargaining campaigns, and ultimately ran the union's national home care program. He then moved to Europe to anchor research and strategy on collaborative projects with unions in multiple countries. John brings together his data science savvy and workforce expertise in developing SFI’s data repositories and analytical tools.
