Microsoft investor who pushed shareholder vote on harassment report says change is coming

It was November, and Microsoft shareholders had just agreed with her proposal to push the software maker into issuing a public report on the effectiveness of its sexual harassment policies. "Its so rare to get a majority vote," Lamb, a founding partner and portfolio manager at impact investment firm Arjuna Capital, said in an interview after Microsoft made its announcement last week. Issues such as harassment and social justice started gaining traction around the time of the #MeToo movement in 2017, and picked up momentum after the 2020 death of George Floyd while in police custody. Asset managers like Arjuna are looking for more companies to talk publicly about their efforts to improve diversity and weed out bad actors, just as theyve long focused on revenue growth and profit margins. In the 12 months that ended in June, 29 environmental and social shareholder proposals won majority support, up from 16 the prior year, according to an analysis from advisory firm FTI Consulting.