Workforce ‘missing piece of reporting jigsaw’ says NAPF

Companies should be including data on their workforces in their corporate reporting in order to give investors greater insight in to their business model, says a new discussion paper from the National Association of Pension Funds (NAPF).

“It seems presently for both companies and investors that there is a blind spot associated with the ‘S’ of ESG,” said Joanne Segars, chief executive of the NAPF.

Despite the familiar corporate mantra of “our people are our greatest asset”, and the widely accepted view that human capital is one of the four pillars of capital which underpin corporate and economic growth (the others being physical, social and intellectual capital), most companies still fail to report on it in any meaningful way, maintains the NAPF.

“Companies often tell us they would report on this if investors asked them to – and too few investors make that request. But on the other hand, investors say they would place greater emphasis on this issue if more meaningful information were available. The NAPF wants to kick start a discussion to resolve this conundrum,” added Segars.

The discussion paper, Where’s the workforce in corporate reporting?, can be accessed here.

For the full story see the July issue of Ethical Performance.