News
FTSE firms to be ranked on HR metric reporting
Published on 30th July 2012 by Sarah Alexander
People Management has reported on research which suggests that strong human capital management equals higher productivity.
All FTSE 100 firms will soon be ranked on how well they report staff engagement and wellbeing, after Business in the Community (BITC) research revealed a “critical link” between HR metrics and raised productivity.
The BITC Workwell pilot, which will launch this autumn, was developed in response to results that found FTSE 100 firms which robustly reported staff absence and engagement data outperformed their peer group by 10 per cent. It has also come at a time when businesses and investors are keenly aware of the importance of transparency around employee management.
A group of major employers have been central to developing the new approach to human capital management via the Leadership and Steering Group, which includes P&G UK, BT Group and the CIPD among others.
“UK business productivity lags behind the other G7 countries and we know that only 14 per cent of UK employees are fully engaged in their work compared to a global average of 21 percent,” said Stephen Howard, BITC chief executive.
“Companies that inspire and support their employees perform better and save money. After several years of careful research, we want to highlight where best practice exists and encourage its spread, so we are taking this unprecedented step to work with the FTSE 100 companies in the Workwell benchmark. We expect our learnings from this pilot to lead us into an international roll out of Workwell later in 2013.”
Peter Cheese, CIPD chief executive, said: “There has never been a more important time to highlight the need for better public reporting on human capital management in order to demonstrate the value of people to business success. This initiative will shine a light on this key issue and the human capital indicators that can help business and investors alike understand the drivers of sustainable organisation performance.”
All FTSE 100 companies will be asked to take part in the process and will be benchmarked against the BITC Public Reporting Guidelines on employee wellness and engagement, which will be based on publically available information and assessed by Towers Watson on behalf of BITC. Where companies do not choose to take part, Towers Watson will complete the assessment on their behalf.
Results will be published alongside the wider Corporate Responsibility Index results from March 2013. BITC said exemplar companies will be highlighted, while details of all other companies will remain confidential.
Dr Paul Litchfield, chief medical officer at the BT Group and chair of the Workwell Steering Group, added: “Reporting publicly against the Workwell model gives companies the opportunity to demonstrate that they are taking a sustainable approach to human capital management.”