Workforce metrics: pay gap, turnover and safety

What are workforce metrics?

They are quantitative measures of a company's own workforce: headcount and contract types, diversity, pay, turnover, training, and health and safety. The ESRS ask for them in ESRS S1 when own workforce is material, GRI in its 400 series, and the SASB Standards for industries where people are a key risk. The SEC requires a principles-based description of human capital resources, including any measures the company uses to manage the business, and the ISSB is researching human capital. Most companies also report them voluntarily to investors and in ESG rating questionnaires. See ESRS S1 own workforce and ESG-linked executive pay.

How is the gender pay gap calculated?

The mean gap is men's average gross hourly pay minus women's, divided by men's; the median gap uses the middle values instead, so it is less affected by a few very high earners. Both are unadjusted: they compare all men with all women, without controlling for role or seniority, so they show where women sit in the pay structure rather than unequal pay for the same work. UK employers with 250 or more employees publish the mean and median hourly and bonus gaps, the share of each gender receiving a bonus, and the gender split of each pay quartile. Under the EU Pay Transparency Directive, employers with more than 250 workers report by 7 June 2027 and then annually, those with 150 to 249 by 7 June 2027 and then every three years, and those with 100 to 149 from 2031; a gap of 5% or more in any category of workers that cannot be justified triggers a joint pay assessment. Only a few member states had transposed the Directive by its June 2026 deadline, so national rules and dates vary.

How is employee turnover calculated?

Turnover is the number of employees who left during the period divided by headcount, usually the average of opening and closing, and expressed as a percentage. Voluntary turnover counts only resignations; total turnover adds dismissals, redundancies, retirements and deaths in service. GRI 401-1 asks for new hires and turnover by age group, gender and region; ESRS S1 asks for the number of leavers and the rate. Companies should state which denominator they use and whether fixed-term contracts that end count as leavers.

How are safety rates calculated?

The recordable injury rate is the number of recordable work-related injuries multiplied by a base and divided by hours worked. The US Occupational Safety and Health Administration uses a base of 200,000 hours, roughly 100 full-time employees working a year, and the Bureau of Labor Statistics publishes industry averages on that basis for benchmarking. The ESRS use 1,000,000 hours, and GRI 403-9 lets companies choose either, provided they say which. Lost-time injury frequency, fatalities and high-consequence injuries are reported separately, and many frameworks now ask for contractors working on site as well as employees.

Workforce metrics in practice: a manufacturer's key figures

A manufacturer with an average of 2,000 employees calculates its main workforce metrics for the year.

The mean gap of 12.0% is larger than the median gap of 10.0%, because a few senior roles held mainly by men pull up men's average pay. Turnover of 13.0% includes 180 resignations, a voluntary rate of 9.0%. The 27 recordable injuries in 3.6 million hours give 1.5 per 200,000 hours for its US investors and 7.5 per million hours in its ESRS statement: the same performance on two bases. See ESG KPIs explained and building an ESG KPI dashboard.

Where do the definitions differ?

• Pay: which elements count, such as bonuses, allowances and benefits in kind, and whether pay is hourly or annual.
• People: employees only or also non-employees, headcount or full-time equivalents, and the date or period measured.
• Safety: what counts as recordable, whether contractors are included, and whether hours are measured or estimated.
• Pay ratio: the SEC's CEO pay ratio uses the chief executive and the median employee; the ESRS ratio uses the highest-paid individual.

Build one data set from payroll and HR systems and derive each framework's figure from it, so differences can be explained. See GRI topic standards.

How should companies collect workforce data?

Take pay and headcount data directly from payroll and HR systems rather than from manual returns, define every field once, reconcile headcount to payroll and to the financial statements' staff costs, and keep safety records in one incident system with consistent definitions across sites. Treat the metrics like financial data, with owners, reviews and controls, because they are increasingly assured. See internal controls over sustainability data.

This guide is general information. It is not tax or legal advice for your situation.