Concluding discussion and further research
The findings presented above demonstrate that most of the UK’s FTSE 100 companies have been increasing their HC reporting, and are doing more than simply fulfilling their statutory duties in this regard. It is therefore clear that recent initiatives to promote HC reporting in the UK have had a positive impact, as the companies appear to have been influenced by the FRC (2014) guidance and various corporate governance codes (Tricker, 2015). These codes often include requirements for companies to have enhanced communication as well as more effective relationships with their employees, suppliers and customers, and to behave ethically with regards to the environment and society as a whole. Moreover, it was found that there were significant increases in HC reporting in some areas, such as human rights. This is one of the elements which can clearly be linked to the amendment to the Companies Act 2006, while other increases such as those in diversity reporting and equality could be due to other reasons, such as the Davies Report (2011), which recommended increasing the number of female board members, and the various UK Corporate Governance Codes (see Tricker 2015), which have advocated increased narrative reporting. The findings here are also consistent with some of those from studies of HC reporting in other countries. The companies in this study reported strongly in areas of employee training, health and safety, career development and employee leadership, which is similar to the findings of Khan and Khan (2010) and Abeysekera and Guthrie (2004). There was also clear evidence that organisations are reporting extensively on succession planning, and there were examples of some of the FTSE 100 companies linking succession planning with workforce risk.
