OMAHA, Nebraska – During Saturday’s annual meeting, Berkshire Hathaway investors decisively voted against a shareholder proposal that would have required the investment giant to create a public report detailing how it manages its massive workforce spanning nearly 200 companies and more than 387,000 workers.
The same shareholders gave their blessing to board-supported measures regarding executive compensation, including a non-binding endorsement of how the company pays its top leadership and establishing a three-year cycle for advisory votes on executive pay packages.
Investors also returned all 13 board members to their positions, including Chairman Warren Buffett and CEO Greg Abel.
Shareholder Myra Young, who put forward the workforce oversight proposal, argued that Berkshire’s hands-off management style has created “inconsistent approaches to human capital management” across its various businesses.
Young pointed to specific examples including safety and training complaints from pilots at NetJets, the company’s private aviation subsidiary, and a devastating 2021 blaze at a Lubrizol chemical facility in Illinois that resulted in $380 million in property losses.
Company leadership defended their decentralized approach, stating that this management philosophy reflects Berkshire’s core values and allows individual subsidiary companies to make workforce decisions that best suit their specific operations. They argued this structure makes a comprehensive oversight report both unnecessary and counterproductive.
