Human Capital Management Insights
Human capital management is an increasingly important dimension of ESG risk and opportunity for State Street Global Advisors’ Asset Stewardship team. In 2021, we sought to refine our perspective on human capital management.
We conducted over 185 engagements on this topic with investee companies in markets across the world, including a proactive engagement campaign targeting 60 of the largest employers in our portfolio across the Americas, EMEA, and APAC regions (see the Appendix for the list of companies engaged). What follows are suggested best practices for investee companies, in alignment with our disclosure expectations. Note that we are not offering blanket endorsements of companies’ approaches to human capital management, but rather seemingly differentiated practices in a field where universal expectations, regulations, and standards are emerging.
Human capital is a material risk and opportunity for companies across all industries. We are hopeful that the increased emphasis on effective human capital management since the beginning of the pandemic — including more regular opportunities to solicit employee input and more frequent board-level discussions on human capital management challenges — will be implemented permanently going forward. Please reach out to the State Street Global Advisors Asset Stewardship Team at GovernanceTeam@ssga.com with any insights or invitations to engage on this essential topic.