The Use of Metrics in Company Human Rights Reporting in Poland

This report summarizes findings from research into the current use of metrics by Polish companies in their human rights related reporting. The research is a contribution to the Valuing Respect project research stream, to build empirical evidence for how businesses currently track the progress and effectiveness of their efforts to respect human rights.

The research was conducted in collaboration with the Polish Institute for Human Rights and Business, from mid 2018 to early 2019, and has informed the direction and focus of the Valuing Respect project.

A QUICK LOOK AT OUR FINDINGS

OBSERVATIONS

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• Company reporting is focused on input, activity and output data with 78.8% of all information falling into these indicator categories. Even then, detailed information about inputs and activities is rarely provided. This holds true across all the industries analyzed; across areas that could be said to be more mature (such as diversity and health and safety); and company reporting that one might assume is more mature (for example, because they follow an international reporting standard). At the same time, it is important not to discount reporting on these issues as they might ultimately be leading indicators of better business practices and good outcomes. 
• With regard to the dominant category of outputs, about 80% of these are reported in numerical form, and often presented as a snap-shot for the reporting period, without a narrative of what the company concluded or did as a result of that data. PIHRB considers that this might reflect that data included in monitoring and reporting is driven more by external requirements and pressures than by its perceived value for business decisions.
• The most complete disclosures are those that show the connection across the pathway from inputs to activities all the way through to outcomes for people and business. This is not common but a few positive exceptions were found in the research. 
• Some companies share data about outcomes for business that seem to relate to human rights outcomes for people, but they rarely make this relationship explicit or address the nature and quality of outcomes for people.

For a detailed description of our findings, please download the full report below.