High awareness of OFRs Human Capital reporting -

-yet to translate into action as majority wait and see.Water for Fish, the people and organisation consulting company, today reveals that 89% of senior finance professionals and 84% of human resources (HR) professionals surveyed are aware of the new Operating Financial Review (OFR) requirements for UK quoted companies to report on their human capital. However, only 52% of finance respondents and 57% of HR respondents planned to include such information in their next OFRs.






The survey was conducted in March-April 2005 among 100 senior financial and HR professionals within UK quoted companies, their businesses as diverse as financial services, pharmaceuticals, electronics, construction, retail, airlines and recruitment...

Rob Davies, Managing Director of Water for Fish said: ‘Many organisations appear to be putting this new DTI requirement (which started in April 2005) on the back burner, either because their year-end is some way off - or has just gone. Or simply they see other information as more critical to their business. Our experience is that organisations which collect and analyse high-quality people information enjoy real productivity and performance gains.'

WHOSE RESPONSIBILITY?

Whilst some 36% of financial professionals thought responsibility for the OFR's human capital reporting lay with them, a further 25% of financial people surveyed thought the responsibility lay with the HR Director. By sharp contrast, the majority (57%) of HR people surveyed thought the onus was on them. The report shows that whilst the majority feel it important to include some information on their employees in their OFRs, there are varying degrees of readiness in covering the key human capital reporting areas to be addressed. Both financial and HR respondents agreed that they are most prepared and equipped to report on the workforce's size and composition, along with their approach to, and issues around, recruitment and selection. However, they are least prepared and equipped to comment on leadership and succession planning processes, only slightly behind their ability to describe their motivation, reward and retention practices and processes and the implications of these. A range of reasons were given as to why people were not prepared nor equipped to implement the OFR's human capital reporting requirements.

WHAT FINANCE PEOPLE THINK

Some 6% of finance people are unaware the OFR's human capital reporting is a requirement; 5% think other things are more important and 3% will not be complying until it is mandatory...

•‘We don't think best practice is established yet…. we need more time…'. Financial Controller

•‘We have just issued our annual report… we don't have to do anything until the year-end of 2006.' Investor Relations Officer

•‘Anything the DTI requires, we will do…' Financial Controller

•‘We always had covered it in our social and environment report.' Financial Controller •‘We have other things to think about. Are we required to do this? If we are, we will but if not, we won't. It must depend on when the financial year starts for each company.' Finance Director (interim)

•‘I haven't drafted all the requirements, but we are trying to comply.' Group Project Financial Controller

•‘Our shareholders will be more interested in the progress of our product development and will trust us to recruit properly…' Chief Financial Officer One finance director summed-up the thinking of many other finance people when saying: ‘There is so much stuff to do and no time to concentrate on these things. It's not that we are not willing… but there is a limit on what you can do.' WHAT HR PEOPLE THINK Some 84% of HR people claim to be aware of the OFR's new human capital reporting requirements and share a number of views re its timings and relevance…

•‘We include this information in our company reports anyway - what do you mean by OFR? It's just government jargon.' Director of Personnel

•‘We already (include human capital reporting) and have been for a few years.' Group HR Director

•‘It depends on the financial year; ours is a calendar year.' HR Director

•‘It is not compulsory at present so companies don't have to do this, but my company has been doing it for four years.'

Head of Employee Research and Measurement

Underlining that not all companies are fully clear on where responsibility for producing the OFR's human capital reporting lies, one company secretary said: ‘It's to be decided between the HR director and the finance director.'

Kilde. 

www.waterforfish.com http://www.onrec.com/content2/news.asp?ID=7890

2005-06-10 Torny Annina Berg