Overview
ISO/TS 30428:2021 - Human resource management - Skills and capabilities metrics cluster - defines a standardized set of metrics for measuring an organization’s investment in employee skills and capabilities. Published as a technical specification in 2021, the document complements ISO 30414 guidance on human capital reporting by specifying five core metrics, providing formulas, use guidance and interpretation considerations for internal and external reporting.
Key topics
- The five metrics defined
- Total development and training cost - sum of all spending on training and development.
- Percentage of employees who participate in training - employees with at least one formal training event divided by total employees per year.
- Average formalized training hours per employee - total formal training hours divided by FTEs.
- Percentage of employees who participate in formalized training by category - participation rates by group (e.g., leadership).
- Workforce competency rate - average competency ratings assigned to employees.
- Components provided for each metric
- General description, purpose, formula, and guidance on how to use and interpret results.
- Practical interpretation guidance
- Issues to consider when analyzing skills data and when deciding interventions (training, hiring, reallocation).
- Reporting considerations for external stakeholders (regulators, investors, analysts).
- Examples and case studies
- The specification includes illustrative case studies and formula applications to aid implementation.
Applications
ISO/TS 30428 is practical for organizations seeking consistent, comparable measures of learning and development investment and workforce capability. Typical uses:
- Benchmarking training spend and outcomes across units, countries or industries
- Informing learning & development strategy and budgeting
- Tracking training coverage, intensity and equity by role or demographic
- Supporting human capital reporting to investors, boards and regulators
- Evaluating return on investment (ROI) of development programs and linking competencies to performance
Who should use it
- HR leaders and learning & development (L&D) professionals
- Chief human resources officers (CHROs) and finance teams
- Investor relations and corporate reporting teams preparing human capital disclosures
- Auditors, regulators and external analysts assessing workforce investment
- HR consultants and academic researchers studying workforce capability metrics
Related standards
- ISO 30414 - Human resource management - Guidelines for internal and external human capital reporting
- ISO 30400 - Human resource management - Vocabulary
ISO/TS 30428:2021 provides a practical, standardized foundation for measuring skills and capabilities, improving transparency and enabling better decisions about workforce development and human capital investment.
