2026 Just Capital rankings: How corporate America is investing in post-ESG era

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Many corporations have retreated on initiatives branded under DEI and ESG banners during President Donald Trump's second term to protect their businesses from political and legal headaches. But it doesn't mean companies have stopped investing in efforts that are key to stakeholders and take a longer-term lens than just hitting quarterly earnings estimates.

The Just Capital annual rankings of companies within the Russell 1000 universe identifies what it finds to be the companies making the most "just" investments in their operations across five key categories: workers, communities, shareholders & governance, customers, and the environment. And these investments remain a focus across the market, according to Just Capital's latest research. But while pressure mounts for corporate boardrooms to deliver on the bottom line as they confront more uncertainty than at any other time in recent history — from an era of global conflict and inflation to the rise of artificial intelligence — there is a shift underway in how and where these investments are being made to maximize future returns.

"Companies are investing more than before in actual stakeholder value creation, they are not pulling back from that, even in a very complex, competitive environment," said Martin Whittaker, founding CEO of Just Capital.

The focus on workers, in particular — the No. 1 issue for the American public when it comes to identifying what a "just" company is — continues. Companies at the top of the rankings often share common efforts across their workforces, from increasing professional development training hours to higher minimum wages and parental leave policies. This year, in particular, corporate focus on wealth-building opportunities for employees was more prominent. These efforts come at a time of widespread concerns about affordability and the risk workers face from AI.

"We've seen more focus on economic wellbeing, which can be pay or benefits," Whittaker said. "We've seen wages rise and investment in training, stock options and wealth-building programs. Most of the companies moving up on these workforce metrics are the leaders," he added.

Hewlett Packard, the No. 1 company in this year's rankings, offers flexible time off programs, 12 weeks paid leave, and access to wealth-building opportunities for employees via stock awards and options.

Union Pacific, which ranked No. 2, offers a minimum wage of $26.12, 74 average professional development training hours per employee, and tuition reimbursement and stock awards.

No. 3 Dow and No. 4 S&P Global also increased professional development training hours available to employees, highlighting widespread increases in the rankings on this particular metric.

"In the AI era, where everyone is figuring out what it does mean for their workforce and tasks versus roles, in that roiling employer-employee dynamic, most companies are really doubling on workforce investments," Whittaker said. "Companies may have different ways for hiring at the entry level, and anecdotally, I think we are all seeing it," he said, but he added that existing workforce investments at companies across industries continue to grow.

Across the Russell 1000 universe analyzed by Just Capital, the average disclosed minimum wage rose year-over-year to $17.27 from $16.92. More companies are publicly disclosing their minimum wage, including Ventas, United Therapeutics, and Lowe's, which recorded the largest overall gain on the list, moving up 243 spots, to No. 81 in the 2026 rankings, with factors cited including its minimum wage and increases in training and development hours available to employees.

For many companies on the list, the rankings reflect incremental improvements in key categories rather than wholly new efforts. Fourteen of the companies in the rankings, including Bank of America, Synchrony Financial, and Costco, reported annual increases in their minimum wage rates. Twenty-one companies extended leave policies for primary caregivers, while fifteen companies lengthened leave for secondary caregivers. These policies are also spreading further across the market, according to Just Capital's research. Thirty-one companies added new leave policies for primary caregivers, while thirty-two companies added new policies for secondary caregivers.

There were over 30 new companies to make the corporate top-performer list this year. But beyond the companies to make the cut in the annual rankings, a focus on issues like wealth building led to major gains among Russell 1000 peers. PVH Corp, as an example, moved up 460 spots to No. 160 overall, with Just Capital citing its newly disclosed practice of granting stock awards or options to employees to support wealth building, among other factors.

Whittaker says the increased, and in many cases new, corporate disclosures related to investments in worker wellness, training and wealth building show that there is less talk today, and more need to focus on the "doing". It is a shift that he says has been underway for a few years already, as forward-looking "we will be awesome in the future" statements are replaced in the market by a recognition from companies they will be rewarded for actual performance.

"The key is in the execution, not pledges or commitments they are making for the future," Whittaker said. "Business leaders are under tremendous pressure to deliver results and they are looking under every stone for what to do to achieve their goals, and they have concluded that some of best investments they can make are in people," he said.

A few industries do stand out in the rankings on a relative basis, with technology (23%), industrial goods & services (17%), and health care (12%) making up over half of the annual list.

At the same time of a doubling down on worker efforts, there have been broad declines in the overall rate of corporate disclosure. Over half (54%) of the data points that Just Capital tracks to identify industry leaders saw lower rates of disclosure year-over-year. Not surprisingly, the most notable declines in the data being shared by corporations occurred with issues where political winds have shifted in the U.S.: board ethnic diversity and renewable energy use percentages.

But Whittaker said that even as many of these disclosures are trending lower, the data shows declines that remain relatively small in magnitude. Gender workforce demographic disclosures, for example, fell 3.3%, according to Just Capital's research, while racial and ethnic demographic data disclosures declined 2.8%. Pay equity analyses by gender and race decreased 1.6%, while reporting on supply chain diversity declined by 3%.

That is not to say the situation has not changed in a major way. "I think the ESG framing is over, that's dead," Whittaker said. He added that across workers, customers, suppliers, community, and the overall corporate "footprint," boardrooms are focused on the bottom line and the question of "Where do I invest to get the highest return on investment?" And related to that question, they are also more focused on goals related to their specific industry and this specific moment in time. In simpler terms, Whittaker said, it's "biggest bang for your buck" thinking from business leaders as they continue with these investments but in many ways shift away from the previous framing around ESG and DEI.

"We've entered an era of being as quantitative, almost as predictive, as possible on where to invest to benefit the business the most, and a lot of the shifts we've seen support that view, and it's also what we hear directly from boards," Whittaker said.

"It's not a "massive sea change," he said of the decline in corporate disclosure. But it is what he called a "symptom" of the broader shift in corporate thinking. "What's different now in disclosure is more focus on things that drive performance as opposed to things that perhaps the outside world and government, or investors and activists are demanding," Whittaker said. "We went through a period of saying, 'What are you doing on X, Y and Z, and pressure to disclosure on lots of things, and that has changed. I don't put it down to just politics, but also a business reality today of getting back to basics and focusing on driving performance. We've just entered a new period."

"We talk to a lot of boards and think they are coming back to the central question of where exactly do companies need to invest for the greatest market benefits. That is the central question occupying every CEO's mind," Whittaker said. And, he says, as long as companies can measure what is driving performance and track improvements, they will continue to disclose and "put dollars to that."

Detailed information on the annual rankings is available from Just Capital.