Why ISO Standards
The business world has talked about engagement and experience for nearly a decade, and neither the general level of employee or customer engagement has budged based on surveys by Gallup and the American Customer Satisfaction Index. Whether or not an organization seeks ISO certification, it can benefit from a systematic approach to engaging all stakeholders that can significantly enhance the experience and well-being for all people while improving financial results and efficiency across the organization. There is no need for additional funding, as the investment comes from budgets currently allocated for incentive, recognition, loyalty, and other engagement efforts.
Enterprise Engagement strategies embraced by ISO standards provide a systematic way of achieving goals by better management of engagement practices. ISO 10018 quality people management certification can provide unique marketing and recruitment opportunities, but no certification is required to benefit from a more efficient approach to sustainable success or the growing need to disclose their human capital practices. This program will prepare both public and private organizations to address the growing pressure from both investors and ISO auditors for them disclose how they strategically and tactically engage all stakeholders.
ISO Annex SL and ISO 10018 and the growing library of ISO Human Resources standards enable organizations to profit from a formal process to engage people across the organization in the same way ISO 9001 provides a formal system for managing quality. The application of a formal process for engagement has the potential to yield many financial gains, not to mention enhanced customer and talent retention, higher quality and productivity, greater well-being and reduced litigation risk.
Whether with knowledge of ISO standards or not, investors have embraced the importance of engagement and the need for a formal process. CalPERS, the nation’s leading pension fund, submitted a concept paper last year with the Securities & Exchange Commission requesting that public companies be compelled to disclose their human capital investments and information on the engagement of employees and customers, learning and communication practices, incentives and more. See Q&A With CalPERS on its Strong Support for Human Capital.
The Human Capital Management coalition of 26 U.S. pension funds, with combined assets of $5.6 trillion, specifically asks public companies to disclose information on human capital investments, employee and customer turnover and much of the same information advocated by CalPERS, which is a member of this coalition. See $2.6 Trillion Investor Coalition Sees Link Between Human Capital Management and Shareholder Return.
Larry Fink of BlackRock Group, the world’s largest private investment firm, recently called upon public companies to make larger and more strategic investments in human capital and emphasized the need for far greater disclosure on actual practices and results. See Larry Fink CEO Letter.
Their interest is justified. In a study published in the Harvard Business Review in 2016, Alex Edmans, Professor at the London Business School, found that companies on the Great Places to Work™ list consistently outperformed the stock market indices over nearly three decades. Similarly, the Engaged Company Stock Index (ECSI), managed by analytics firm McBassi & Co., which uses 12 sources to identify companies with high levels of customer, employee and community engagement, has outperformed the S&P 500 by over 40 percentage points over the last nearly six years, with consistent performance from year to year. See 28 Years of Stock Market Data Shows a Link Between Employee Satisfaction and Long-Term Value.