"Workforce Disclosure in 2019: Trends and Insights"

Despite progress in improving working conditions and pay in some parts of the world, there remains a huge gap in the amount of meaningful and publicly available corporate data on workforce matters worldwide.

With estimates that hundreds of millions of jobs could be lost as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic in the coming year, meaningful and comparable data has never been more important in ensuring the fair treatment of workers. It is in this context that we review the data submitted by the 118 pioneering companies that participated in the Workforce Disclosure Initiative 2019 survey...

Six thematic findings were identified...

1. Companies provide data on their workforce governance structures, but share limited information on the internal accountability mechanisms 

2. Companies are reluctant to provide data on staff turnover

3. The concept of a Living Wage is not universally understood by companies 

4. Companies are willing to submit more data against workforce metrics for permanent employees than for their contingent workforce

5. Companies do not appear to be collecting detailed data relating to social dialogue mechanisms... 

6. Companies generally have in place policy-level commitments on responsible sourcing and supply chain workers' rights but are less able to provide data on how these commitments are implemented.