Development – Human Capital

New ISO International Standard for human capital reporting
By Clare Naden on 15 January 2019
ISO 30414: Human resource management – Guidelines for internal and external human capital reporting, is the first International Standard that allows an organization to get a clear view of the actual contribution of its human capital. Applicable to enterprises of all types and sizes, it provides guidelines on core HR areas such as organizational culture, recruitment and turnover, productivity, health and safety, and leadership.

Dr Ron McKinley, Chair of the ISO technical committee that developed the standard, said ISO 30414 will enable organizations to gain a better understanding of their impact on staff and help maximize employee contribution for long-term success.

“Workforce reporting is about rethinking how organizational value should be understood and evaluated, and allowing for more data-driven decision making across workforce management,” he explained.

“What’s more, by providing a number of relevant key metrics that are recognizable on an international scale, multinational companies can more easily transfer human capital information, better control their international HR activities and provide greater transparency for all their stakeholders,” he said.

“But the standard is not just for multinationals. Organizations of all sizes, including small and medium-sized companies, can benefit from being able to choose the metrics that are most relevant to them.”..

ISO 30414, Human resource management – Guidelines for internal and external human capital reporting
[Excerpt]
Introduction
Human capital includes the cumulative knowledge, skills and abilities of an organization’s people and the impact on an organization’s long-term performance, as well as competitive advantage through optimizing organizational outcomes.

The measurement of human capital facilitates the ability of an organization to manage one of its most critical resources and risks, people. Research shows that organizations that do not manage their human capital may damage the ability and opportunity for the business to create long-term and sustainable value achieved through their people[1].

This document is guided by the principles of human rights at work[2], and coupled with the human governance standard (ISO 30408[3]), it establishes guidelines on human capital data capture, measurement, analysis and reporting.

The benefits of a standardized approach to human capital reporting (HCR) include
— the use of standardized and agreed data, which describes organizational value in a broadly comparable sense;
— the improvement of HRM processes that support good practice in establishing and maintaining positive employment relations;
— greater understanding of the financial and non-financial returns that are generated as a result of investments in human capital;
— accessible and transparent reporting of human capital data and insights that enhances internal and external understanding and assessment of an organization’s human capital and its present and future performance…