Standards interpretations
Standards Interpretations are issued by the Global Sustainability Standards Board (GSSB), GRI’s independent standard-setting body. Their purpose is to clarify what needs to be reported under a reporting requirement in the GRI Standards. Standard Interpretations are developed according to due process as defined in the GSSB Due Process Protocol.
The GSSB has issued two Standards Interpretations for GRI 101: Foundation 2016 and GRI 401: Employment 2016, on how to make a GRI-referenced claim and how to calculate the rates of new employee hires and employee turnover, respectively.
Standards Interpretation for GRI 101: Foundation
This Standards Interpretation only applies to GRI 101: Foundation 2016 and excludes its revised version of GRI 1: Foundation 2021.
The interpretation clarifies the reporting requirements for organizations using selected Standards, or parts of their content, with a GRI-referenced claim. The Standards Interpretation clarifies that an organization making a GRI-referenced claim is not required to comply with all reporting requirements for each reported disclosure (clause 3.3.2 in GRI 101). For the Interpretation Statement, see page 30 of GRI 101.
Standards Interpretation for GRI 401: Employment
The Standards Interpretation for GRI 401 clarifies the reporting requirements for Disclosure 401-1 ‘New employee hires and employee turnover’. The Standards Interpretation clarifies that organizations are not required to comply with clause 2.1 in GRI 401 (‘The reporting organization shall use the total employee numbers at the end of the reporting period to calculate the rates of new employee hires and employee turnover’). For the Interpretation Statement, see page 14 of GRI 401.
This Standards Interpretation is effective for reports of other materials published on or after 1 July 2018. In other words, an organization can use it from 1 July 2018 onwards.