Last Chance to Comment on the Draft ISO Guidelines for Human Capital Reporting

Laurie_Bassi

By Laurie Bassi - CEO, McBassi & Co.

Laurie will be speaking at People Analytics World 2018 this April, London - meet her there.

A technical committee of ISO (the International Organization for Standardization) has circulated a draft standard entitled “Guidelines for Human Capital Reporting for Internal and External Stakeholders.” 

Mr. Fink’s letter informed these CEOs that if their companies want to receive BlackRock’s support, they need to do more than make profits – they need to contribute to society.

The draft standard (which you can view, and comment on, here) is quite comprehensive, especially for internal reporting.  Some might say it’s exhaustive.  And while the proposed HC metrics for external reporting are only a subset of those proposed for internal reporting, it is still an extensive list.  You can find a summary of all the proposed metrics on pages 9-10 of the draft standard document. 

The major categories of metrics proposed for external reporting include the following:

 

  • Compliance
  • Costs
  • Diversity
  • Leadership trust
  • Occupational health and safety
  • Productivity
  • Recruitment, mobility and turnover
  • Skills and capabilities
  • Succession planning
  • Workforce availability

In my view this list is too long, and I have shared my comments to that effect with the technical committee that has drafted and will be voting on the standards.  You can do the same (see “add a comment”).

Don’t get me wrong.  I believe that this standard is both a positive and very important development – one that would improve transparency, accountability, and foster more sustainable HR practices and policies.  But if complying with the standard is too onerous, its impact will be diminished. 

Whether or not you agree with my perspective, I’d encourage you to share your views with the ISO.  You only have until March 23.  So hop on it!