GRI 404: Training and Education 2016 contains disclosures for organizations to report information about their training and education-related impacts, and how they manage these impacts.
The Standard is structured as follows:
The rest of the Introduction section provides a background on the topic, an overview of the system of GRI Standards and further information on using this Standard.
Background on the topic
This Standard addresses the topic of training and education. This includes an organization’s approach to training and upgrading employee skills, and performance and career development reviews. It also includes transition assistance programs to facilitate continued employability, and the management of career endings due to retirement or termination.
These concepts are covered in key instruments of the International Labour Organization and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development: see the Bibliography.
System of GRI Standards
This Standard is part of the GRI Sustainability Reporting Standards (GRI Standards). The GRI Standards enable an organization to report information about its most significant impacts on the economy, environment, and people, including impacts on their human rights, and how it manages these impacts.
The GRI Standards are structured as a system of interrelated standards that are organized into three series: GRI Universal Standards, GRI Sector Standards, and GRI Topic Standards (see Figure 1 in this Standard).
Universal Standards: GRI 1, GRI 2 and GRI 3
GRI 1: Foundation 2021 specifies the requirements that the organization must comply with to report in accordance with the GRI Standards. The organization begins using the GRI Standards by consulting GRI 1.
GRI 2: General Disclosures 2021 contains disclosures that the organization uses to provide information about its reporting practices and other organizational details, such as its activities, governance, and policies.
GRI 3: Material Topics 2021 provides guidance on how to determine material topics. It also contains disclosures that the organization uses to report information about its process of determining material topics, its list of material topics, and how it manages each topic.
Sector Standards
The Sector Standards provide information for organizations about their likely material topics. The organization uses the Sector Standards that apply to its sectors when determining its material topics and when determining what to report for each material topic.
Topic Standards
The Topic Standards contain disclosures that the organization uses to report information about its impacts in relation to particular topics. The organization uses the Topic Standards according to the list of material topics it has determined using GRI 3.
Using this Standard
This Standard can be used by any organization – regardless of size, type, sector, geographic location, or reporting experience – to report information about its training and education-related impacts.
An organization reporting in accordance with the GRI Standards is required to report the following disclosures if it has determined training and education to be a material topic:
See Requirements 4 and 5 in GRI 1: Foundation 2021.
Reasons for omission are permitted for these disclosures.
If the organization cannot comply with a disclosure or with a requirement in a disclosure (e.g., because the required information is confidential or subject to legal prohibitions), the organization is required to specify the disclosure or the requirement it cannot comply with, and provide a reason for omission together with an explanation in the GRI content index. See Requirement 6 in GRI 1: Foundation 2021 for more information on reasons for omission.
If the organization cannot report the required information about an item specified in a disclosure because the item (e.g., committee, policy, practice, process) does not exist, it can comply with the requirement by reporting this to be the case. The organization can explain the reasons for not having this item, or describe any plans to develop it. The disclosure does not require the organization to implement the item (e.g., developing a policy), but to report that the item does not exist.
If the organization intends to publish a standalone sustainability report, it does not need to repeat information that it has already reported publicly elsewhere, such as on web pages or in its annual report. In such a case, the organization can report a required disclosure by providing a reference in the GRI content index as to where this information can be found (e.g., by providing a link to the web page or citing the page in the annual report where the information has been published).
Requirements, guidance and defined terms
The following apply throughout this Standard:
Requirements are presented in bold font and indicated by the word 'shall'. An organization must comply with requirements to report in accordance with the GRI Standards.
Requirements may be accompanied by guidance.
Guidance includes background information, explanations, and examples to help the organization better understand the requirements. The organization is not required to comply with guidance.
The Standards may also include recommendations. These are cases where a particular course of action is encouraged but not required.
The word ‘should’ indicates a recommendation, and the word ‘can’ indicates a possibility or option.
Defined terms are underlined in the text of the GRI Standards and linked to their definitions in the Glossary. The organization is required to apply the definitions in the Glossary.
An organization reporting in accordance with the GRI Standards is required to report how it manages each of its material topics.
An organization that has determined training and education to be a material topic is required to report how it manages the topic using Disclosure 3-3 in GRI 3: Material Topics 2021 (see clause 1.1 in this section).
This section is therefore designed to supplement – and not replace – Disclosure 3-3 in GRI 3.
1.1 The reporting organization shall report how it manages training and education using Disclosure 3-3 in GRI 3: Material Topics 2021.
The reporting organization shall report the following information:
2.1 When compiling the information specified in Disclosure 404-1, the reporting organization should:
2.1.1 express employee numbers as either head count or full-time equivalent (FTE), and disclose and apply the approach consistently in the period, and between periods;
2.1.2 use data from Disclosure 2-7 in GRI 2: General Disclosures 2021 to identify the total number of employees;
2.1.3 draw from the information used for Disclosure 405-1 in GRI 405: Diversity and Equal Opportunity 2016 to identify the total number of employees by employee category.
Guidance for Disclosure 404-1
This disclosure provides insight into the scale of an organization’s investment in training, and the degree to which the investment is made across the entire employee base.
In the context of this Standard, ‘training’ refers to:
Training does not include on-site coaching by supervisors.
To calculate the information in Disclosure 404-1, the reporting organization can use the following formulas:
| Average training hours per employee | = |
Total number of training hours provided to employees Total number of employees |
| Average training hours per female | = |
Total number of training hours provided to female employees Total number of female employees |
| Average training hours per male | = |
Total number of training hours provided to male employees Total number of male employees |
| Average training hours per employee category | = |
Total number of training hours provided to each category of employees Total number of employees in category |
A number of calculations can be undertaken to report on employee categories. These calculations are specific to each organization.
The reporting organization shall report the following information:
Guidance for Disclosure 404-2
Employee training programs that aim to upgrade skills can include:
Transition assistance programs provided to support employees who are retiring or who have been terminated can include:
Background
Programs for upgrading employee skills allow an organization to plan skills acquisition that equips employees to meet strategic targets in a changing work environment. More skilled employees enhance the organization’s human capital and contribute to employee satisfaction, which correlates strongly with improved performance. For those facing retirement, confidence and quality of work relations is improved by the knowledge that they are supported in their transition from work to retirement.
The reporting organization shall report the following information:
2.2 When compiling the information specified in Disclosure 404-3, the reporting organization should:
2.2.1 use data from Disclosure 2-7 in GRI 2: General Disclosures 2021 to identify the total number of employees;
2.2.2 draw from the information used for Disclosure 405-1 in GRI 405: Diversity and Equal Opportunity 2016 to identify the total number of employees by employee category.
Background
This disclosure measures the extent to which an organization regularly appraises employee performance. This aids the personal development of individual employees. It also contributes to skills management and to the development of human capital within the organization. This disclosure also demonstrates the extent to which this system is applied throughout the organization, and whether there is inequity of access to these opportunities.
Regular performance and career development reviews can also enhance employee satisfaction, which correlates with improved organizational performance. This disclosure helps demonstrate how an organization works to monitor and maintain the skill sets of its employees. When reported in conjunction with Disclosure 404-2, the disclosure also helps to illustrate how the organization approaches skills enhancement.
para
This glossary provides definitions for terms used in this Standard. The organization is required to apply these definitions when using the GRI Standards.
The definitions included in this glossary may contain terms that are further defined in the complete GRI Standards Glossary. All defined terms are underlined. If a term is not defined in this glossary or in the complete GRI Standards Glossary, definitions that are commonly used and understood apply.
adaptation to the changing demands of the workplace through the acquisition of new skills
individual who is in an employment relationship with the organization according to national law or practice
breakdown of employees by level (such as senior management, middle management) and function (such as technical, administrative, production)
rights inherent to all human beings, which include, at a minimum, the rights set out in the United Nations (UN) International Bill of Human Rights and the principles concerning fundamental rights set out in the International Labour Organization (ILO) Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work