The Oxford dictionary’s definition of human capital is ‘the skills, knowledge, and experience possessed by an individual or population, viewed in terms of their value or cost to an organization or country.’ In business terms it can be argued that it’s an intangible asset, not recognized in company accounts or holdings and distinct from a balance sheet in respect to worth.
However this intangible asset is now the focus of large investment firms who are now assessing human capital management measures within organizations to support commercial decisions on whether they acquire and hold their shares. Human capital encompasses the work forces health and well-being, skills, knowledge, commitment, loyalty etc and reflects on an organization’s ability to attract, deploy and retain its personnel.
Key from an occupational health and safety perspective is that effective health and safety management should ensure that work being conducted in a safe and healthy environment, will protect and enable human capital value. It’s not a coincidence that a new ISO standard for psychosocial risks (ISO/DIS 45003) aimed at providing guidance on protecting psychological health by managing psychological risks within an occupational safety and health management system is out for consultation this month.
The pandemic has awakened the conscious of businesses that their continued resilience and sustainability is dependent on the trust, goodwill and flexibility of their workforce.
High performing, profitable and purposeful organizations will value human capital and through HSE and HR professionals enable and promote safe, healthy, happy and fit workforces.
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