Overview of the quarter

Workers’ fears of displacement by machines are nothing new. In The Mill on the Floss, George Eliot contrasts an industrial machine with the rash man who, venturing too near, is dragged into the workings and ‘converted into unexpected sausages.’ Machine efficient and ingenious; human irrational, vulnerable and expendable. Even the person who invented the wheel and axle probably had to suffer the slings and arrows of outraged porters, done out of their jobs.

But, for now at least, people remain crucial for productivity, as we noted in the 2023 Ruffer Review. One of our engagements in focus over the past quarter was with a Spanish bio-pharmaceuticals company which had a particularly high staff turnover rate. Where people are constantly leaving or joining a company, it can play havoc with product innovation. So we wanted to find out whether this was an industry-wide issue and what they were doing to retain personnel. We will be continuing our dialogue with them, as we will with our other engagements in focus, Ryanair and ArcelorMittal.

Elsewhere in this quarter’s report, we discuss our continuing work with other organisations to create the market infrastructure needed to help managers make more informed investment decisions.

During COP28, we supported a broad call for companies to adopt better climate-related reporting, to help channel capital where it can do most good. We also engaged with a research provider to gain a fuller understanding of the fairness and balance of its methodologies.