Company: AOS
Filing Date: 2025-02-27
Form Type: DEF 14A
Source: 0001193125-25-037641
Chunk: 80

Company: SMITH A O CORP
Filing Date: 2025-02-27
Form: DEF 14A
Chunk 80
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RACTICES WITH RESPECT TO FORMERLY INCARCERATED PEOPLE The following stockholder proposal will be voted on at the 2025 Annual Meeting, if properly presented by the stockholder. A. O. Smith has been notified that the NorthStar Asset Management, Inc. Funded Pension Plan, P.O. Box 301840 Boston, Massachusetts 02130, the beneficial owner for at least three years of shares of A. O. Smith Common Stock having a value of at least $2,000, intends to present the following proposal for consideration at the Annual Meeting: Eliminating Discrimination through Inclusive Hiring WHEREAS: In recent decades, U.S. incarceration rates have increased rapidly, and people of color are disproportionately affected. For people who have been in prison, the unemployment rate is 27% – higher than the total U.S. unemployment rate during any historical period. Meanwhile, studies predict an estimated 2.1 million manufacturing jobs will remain unfilled by 2030 due to a shortage of skilled labor, with estimated economic losses of $1 trillion. Bridging an opportunity to link an untapped talent pool with an increasingly critical corporate need, especially for a company like A. O. Smith that engineers and manufactures products; Recruiting formerly incarcerated people (“fair chance hires”) widens the candidate pool for employers and benefits the economy at large. Case studies show that fair chance hires can have excellent attendance records and help decrease turnover (and associated expenses) while increasing productivity; Fair chance employment best practices include:

| • |     | Resolving technical barriers in job applications; |

| • |     | Creating internship and training programs with direct hire opportunities; |

| • |     | Hosting job fairs targeting fair chance jobseekers; |

| • |     | Removing blanket exclusions on specific crimes beyond legal requirements; |

| • |     | Ensuring that criminal records reviewers use best practice standards for individualized reviews; |

| • |     | Partnering with advocacy organizations that specialize in job preparation for incarcerated people; |

| • |     | Destigmatizing the issue throughout the entire workforce; |

Fair chance employers are not blind to criminal records but commit to hiring practices that consider the effects of related stigma and bias. People with criminal records face thousands of collateral consequences after conviction that result in reduced employment opportunities and can lead to recidivism. When this population is left out of overall workforce participation, the U.S. loses up to $87 billion annually in unrealized GDP; As people of color are disproportionately incarcerated,