National foreword

This British Standard is the UK implementation of ISO 30414:2018.

The UK participation in its preparation was entrusted to Technical Committee HCS/1/2, International Human Resource Management.

A list of organizations represented on this committee can be obtained on request to its secretary.

This publication does not purport to include all the necessary provisions of a contract. Users are responsible for its correct application.

Compliance with a British Standard cannot confer immunity from legal obligations.

This British Standard was published under the authority of the Standards Policy and Strategy Committee on 31 December 2018.

Foreword

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This document was prepared by Technical Committee ISO/TC 260, Human resource management.

Any feedback or questions on this document should be directed to the user’s national standards body. A complete listing of these bodies can be found at www.iso.org/members.html.

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.

HCR is following guiding principles which are outlined in 4.2.

1 Scope

This document provides guidelines for internal and external human capital reporting (HCR). The objective is to consider and to make transparent the human capital contribution to the organization in order to support sustainability of the workforce. This document is applicable to all organizations, regardless of the type, size, nature or complexity of the business, whether in the public, private or voluntary sector, or a not-for-profit organization.

This document provides guidelines on the following core HCR areas:

compliance and ethics;
costs;
diversity;
leadership;
organizational culture;
organizational health, safety and well-being;
productivity;
recruitment, mobility and turnover;
skills and capabilities;
succession planning;
workforce availability.

NOTE These guidelines and associated metrics can result in better organizational performance. However, some organizations do not have the objective or the capacity to use the entire set of metrics. Recommendations for SME use are provided in Table 2 and Annex A.

2 Normative references

3 Terms and definitions

4 Human capital reporting process

4.1 General

4.2 Guiding principles

4.3 Target groups and stakeholder relevance

4.4 Tools and procedures for data collection

4.5 Reporting structure

4.6 Risk management

4.7 Reporting areas

4.8 Reporting documents

4.9 Reporting frequency

Bibliography

BS ISO 30414:2018

Human resource management. Guidelines for internal and external human capital reporting

Published:

31 Dec 2018

Withdrawn:

27 Aug 2025