The people profession has a key role to play in helping investors to assess companies’ social impact
Read our response to the UK’s Taskforce on Social Factors
Read our response to the UK’s Taskforce on Social Factors
The UK's Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) asked the Taskforce on Social Factors to look at how social factors can be better incorporated into investment decisions. The taskforce’s draft report, aimed at pension fund trustees, included more than 30 recommendations aimed at companies and different parts of the investment chain. The CIPD has responded to the report to support the emphasis on social reporting and combatting modern slavery.
The people profession has a key role to play ensuring companies tackle the threat of modern slavery proactively – a key focus of the taskforce’s report. This includes understanding the key people risks, the development of appropriate due diligence and policies, and the design of training. We will publish more specific recommendations for the people profession in 2024.
HR teams can also influence the employment practices of the organisation’s suppliers, for example by sharing best practice in recruitment, people management and development across the supply chain network.
We support clear, full and timely disclosures on social factors; particularly reporting on the gender and ethnicity pay gaps and internal pay ratios. We also support disclosure of human capital management key performance indicators, including workforce composition, workplace safety and standards, employee turnover, absenteeism rates, skills and capabilities, employee engagement, gender diversity and other useful indicators that help investors assess companies’ human capital management practices.
In our recent responses to the International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB) and the Department for Business & Trade, we emphasised the importance of social reporting as an important driver of productivity and growth in the economy. But much of the debate around reporting starts from what can easily be measured, rather than what is most material to long-term success.
We recommend that employers start focusing their reporting efforts on the area of skills development, which is the most likely driver of growth.
Our public policy team champions better work and working lives by shaping public debate, government policy and legislation.
Read our recommended future agenda priorities for the International Sustainability Standards Board
We’ve teamed up with ACAS to call on the UK government to support a broader, more strategic approach to company reporting
Learn about defining, measuring and reporting human capital, and how HR can use human capital information to drive performance
Explore the CIPD's collected perspective on the key issues impacting work, including recommendations, supporting evidence and links to resources for policymakers and employers