Berkshire shareholders reject report on workforce oversight, approve say-on-pay

By Jonathan Stempel

OMAHA, Nebraska, May 2 (Reuters) – Berkshire Hathaway shareholders on Saturday overwhelmingly rejected a proposal to publish a report discussing how the conglomerate oversees its more than 387,000 employees at nearly 200 businesses.

Shareholders also approved proposals backed by Berkshire’s board of directors that they grant non-binding approval of how Berkshire pays top executives, and every three years have an advisory vote on such compensation, known as “say on pay.”

All 13 directors, including Chief Executive Greg Abel and Chairman Warren Buffett, were also reelected to Berkshire’s board.

The oversight proposal from shareholder Myra Young said Berkshire’s decentralized structure led to “inconsistent approaches to human capital management.”

She said this has manifested itself in concerns raised by NetJets pilots about the luxury plane unit’s commitment to safety and effective training, and a 2021 fire at an Illinois plant run by the Lubrizol chemicals business that caused $380 million of property damage.

Berkshire maintained that its decentralization reflected the conglomerate’s culture, and left workforce decisions to subsidiaries best positioned to make them. It said this made a report discussing its oversight framework unnecessary.

(Reporting by Jonathan Stempel; Editing by Alistair Bell)