Model For an Ideal Human Capital Report
This “model” human capital report condenses the longer profile of the “ideal” practitioner of Stakeholder Capitalism—a fabricated organization known as IMC, an integrated communications company. See ESM: —"The Perfect Company: Anatomy of an Ideal Practitioner of Stakeholder Capitalism.” This model was created to help organizations of all sizes visualize the format and contents of a human capital report based on ISO 30414 Human Capital reporting standards for employees and ISO 10018 People Engagement standards for customers, channel and supply chain partners, and communities.
This article is for anyone considering or charged with creating a human capital report that will stand the test of scrutiny by the Securities & Exchange Commission, European and UK regulatory bodies, and of investors, talent, customers, supply chain and distribution partners, and communities, while being sensitive to the disclosure of competitive information.
The IMC company human capital strategy and report draws upon ISO 30414 Human Capital Reporting and ISO 10018 People Engagement standards because of the proven role played by ISO standards in enhancing quality in manufacturing and because of the ability to have these practices audited by trained practitioners. At least two million companies follow one form of ISO standard worldwide.
Note that the Enterprise Engagement Alliance, in deference to organizational concerns about disclosing competitive information, does not call for requiring disclosure of specific metrics but rather the:
• Specific purpose and goals of an organization and the 14 critical tactics addressed in its human capital strategy addressing the needs of all stakeholders to achieve shareholder goals consistent with the ISO standards framework.
• The staff specifically accountable for the 14 specific initiatives considered critical to people performance by ISO standards.
• The specific purpose of methodologies and the metrics used to evaluate progress toward stated goals.
• The general results of those metrics, the implications, and the actions being taken.
Click here for more information on creating and evaluating human capital reports aligned with ISO standards.
IMC Human Capital Report Table of Contents
A company fabricated to depict the “ideal” Stakeholder Capitalism company and the human capital report published to prove it.
IMC Overview
Mission and values, employees and other stakeholders, our people strategy.
1. Leadership
5. Productivity
Addendum
1. Costs
2. Compliance
IMC Overview
The goal of this human capital report is to provide all our stakeholders a transparent report on our efforts to foster the proactive involvement of all stakeholders, including employees, customers, channel and supply chain partners, and communities. While we make every attempt to provide information of use to our stakeholders, we do withhold some specific metrics we believe would provide a competitive advantage to other companies unwilling to make any disclosures.
The statements and information revealed in our disclosures are audited by independent experts in ISO 30414 human capital and ISO 10018 people engagement standards.
Integrated Media Communications (IMC), based in New York City, was founded in 1899 in upstate New York as a trade publication company serving the agricultural industry. It has since grown to become the country’s largest business information company spanning 82 vertical industries, with employees owning almost 28% of the company as of the end of 2020. It was relocated to New York City in 1952 to reflect its goal to serve a broad swath of industries. The company has an Employee Stock Ownership Plan through which the employees own 22% of the company, with 20% in a profit-sharing trust. The remainder of the company is owned by descendants of the company founders and select management.
IMC was better prepared for the pandemic than many companies in the business publishing and information sector because we had already transitioned almost all our print media to digital platforms; developed new research services for customers to replace print advertising revenues and had in place digital information strategies to support our events business. Nonetheless, the elimination of face-to-face events, which comprised 30% of our revenue and 35% of our costs in 2019, dealt a serious blow to our 2020 sales targets, with slightly less impact on our profitability because of the lower margins involved with events.
Because of our earlier investment in digital events to support our exhibition business, we feel particularly well prepared to benefit from our ability to offer clients highly effective hybrid event solutions that can increase their reach, sales, and profitability as we come out of the pandemic-induced downturn.
IMC values and mission. Since our first day in business, our values, mission, and purpose have remained unchanged. While IMC is completely secular, our values are based on the principles of treating others as we ourselves wish to be treated.
Our mission is to achieve consistent double-digit revenue and profit growth by enhancing the marketplaces we serve and the lives of our employees and communities through education, collaboration, innovation, and technology. Our commitment to growth balances short- with long-term goals, so that short-term goals do not jeopardize long-term prosperity. Despite setbacks due to economic downturns (and the effects of the Depression, World War II, the 1970s stagflation, the Internet in the 1990s, the Great Recession starting in 2008, and, most recently, the Covid-19 pandemic), IMC has achieved double-digit sales and profit growth for 95 of its 121 years, including nine out of the last 10.
Employees. In 2020, IMC employed 1,220 people full-time, down from 1,515 from 2019, and 22 independent contractors, down from 210 independent contractors. Our strategy is to use independent contractors to enable us to expand short-term to meet specific customer demands with a foreseeable end, so that we do not have to lay off full-time employees connected to projects with a limited timeframe. We do not disclose the number of our customers, supply, and distribution chain partners for competitive reasons, but the number of both decreased in 2020 due to economic conditions.
Other stakeholders. IMC’s success is based on attracting, engaging and developing talent in editorial, research, marketing, sales, technology, and events; addressing the needs of highly sophisticated business readers and marketers in 82 industries through multiple information platforms; identifying and building relationships with independent sales representatives and marketing agencies that serve our markets; supporting the publishing and information community through education, and by developing talent in our communities. With 82 information platforms in as many industries, our growth hinges on our ability to recruit and engage the broadest and most diverse pool of talent, customers, distribution, and supply chain partners as possible.
IMC benefits form strong relationships with independent sales representatives, advertising, and marketing agencies in the industries we serve; supply chain partners particularly in the events industry; with the publishing industry, in which we develop and recruit talent, and with the communities in which our employees live, mostly in the New York City metropolitan area.
Our people strategy. Based on the premise that providing cutting-edge information and services to business professionals and bringing buyers and sellers together in effective ways requires highly informed sales, marketing, research, editorial, and event professionals, IMC has a strategic and systematic approach to addressing the needs of all our stakeholders—employees, customers, distribution and supply chain partners, and communities—to foster their proactive involvement in our mission and purpose. Each business operating unit's annual plan includes the specific tactics to engage and equip all stakeholders in our mission, values, and goals, along with metrics to measure our progress across all demographic groups. We run our business using metrics predictive of results and, whenever possible, we use benchmarks upon which to gauge the effectiveness of our practices and analytics to prescribe performance or experience enhancements.
1. Leadership
Goals
• Achieve consistent double-digit revenue and profit growth.
• Enhance the marketplaces and lives of all stakeholders by promoting best practices and identifying new markets and business opportunities.
• Engage the broadest possible audience of customers, employees, supply chain and distribution partners in a manner strategic to our goals, mission, and values.
The Chief Engagement Officer is accountable for results.
Tactics
• Values, mission, and purpose are baked into all engagement processes.
• The overall human capital strategy, business plan and clear metrics are tied to performance that focuses on achieving goals through people by engaging the broadest possible audience.
• Achievement of business goals based on metrics are a critical part of management compensation programs.
Metrics
• Human Capital Return on Investment and Human Capital Value Add.
• Revenues, costs, turnover, and referrals of customers, employees, sales reps, etc.
• Costs and turnover of supply chain.
• Training effectiveness—% of trained employees who remain or advance.
• Diversity Equity Inclusion effectiveness—% of employees, supply chain, customers engaged in our people engagement and development efforts.
• Health, safety, wellness metrics, including litigation or filings.
2020 Results
As a result of the pandemic, IMC experienced:
• Significantly decreased Human Capital ROI and Value Add due to efforts to retain employees during a period of falling sales.
• A significant decrease in sales and therefore higher costs per employee and customer, and significantly reduced referrals for business.
• A decrease in training effectiveness due to furloughs and elimination of off-site training activities.
• Stability in our DEI commitment—there was no noticeable difference in the engagement or turnover of any portion of our workforce, except a slight decrease in our events business in which we have a broader concentration of minority workers and contractors.
• A slight improvement in our organizational culture metrics—employees generally approved of our efforts related to managing the pandemic according to surveys.
• An improvement in participation in our wellness program, perhaps because of the work-from-home phenomenon and health concerns.
Action plan
While the economy is improving, and there is an uptick in spending in many of our industries, we do not expect a significant improvement in our human capital metrics until 2022 because we expect to remain in a rebuilding mode. The recovery strategy is focused on using technologies to engage on a one-to-one basis with prospects and to inform and educate; and reducing event costs and re-thinking the traditional event strategies to make them more experiential and interactive.
While the economy is improving, and there is an uptick in spending in many of our industries, we do not expect a significant improvement in our human capital metrics until 2022 because we expect to remain in a rebuilding mode. The recovery strategy is focused on using technologies to engage on a one-to-one basis with prospects and to inform and educate; and reducing event costs and re-thinking the traditional event strategies to make them more experiential and interactive.
2. Diversity, Equity, Inclusion
Goals
• IMC views DEI as a means of optimizing access to talent, customers, distribution, and supply chain partners, and maintaining good community relationships.
• Our DEI strategy is under the direction of the Chief Engagement Officer and the CHRO, supported by a Director of DEI to manage communication and other activities with all our minority stakeholders.
Tactics
• Our board reflects general US demographics.
• Our strategic human capital plan includes DEI strategies and management incentives for each business unit.
• We support Employee Resource Groups to promote communication among employees, as well as Customer and Supplier councils with diverse representation.
• We use inclusive Quality Circles to make key decisions.
• We encourage company events to build community.
• IMC incorporates racial and gender sensitivity and sexual harassment training into all professional development.
• We support the National Minority Supplier Development Council to ensure continued access to potential new supplier partners.
Metrics
• Percentage of the workforce by key category by race, age, gender preference, etc. compared with New York City demographics and national demographics.
• Level of engagement in our professional development, incentive, recognition, and community development efforts by employee category, as tracked in our Enterprise Engagement technology.
• Percentage of minority-owned independent sales organizations engaged.
• Percentage of minority-owned supply chain partners.
Results
• There was a slight downturn in the percentage of minority employees and contractors because the layoffs affected had a particular impact on our events business, which employs a larger number and percentage of lower-skilled workers representing minority communities.
• The level of engagement appeared stable across all demographic groups and there was no appreciable change this year in the percentage of minority-owned sales organizations or supply chain partners.
3. Occupational Health and Safety
Goals
• It is our goal at IMC to foster a positive, healthy work-life balance that enables employees to envision a life-long career at IMC that accommodates their changing needs.
• Achieving these goals is the responsibility of the CHRO.
Tactics
• Assess and address risks of work-at-home and exhibition employees.
• Contact employees regularly to make sure they are doing well and that benefits are being used.
• Use an engagement technology application to align communications, learning, safety, wellness, recognition, feedback, etc., in a manner that helps us track engagement on a real-time basis.
• Provide a toll-free confidential health help line.
• Ban off-hour emails except when necessary and require a formal agenda with clear goals for any meeting.
Metrics
• Engagement: Percentage of employees participating in the wellness and safety programs.
• Attendance. Days lost due to illness and/or accidents.
• Insurance claims, in number and dollars.
• We also correlate wellness, and safety with demographic groups, turnover, and other engagement factors to identify trends using an outside prescriptive analytics firm.
Results
• 32% of employees now participate in the wellness program, up from 24% the year before.
• 74% of participating employees are achieving their wellness goals.
• Attendance: Only 3% of employees required sick days above the company policy, despite the pandemic.
• We have experienced a 6% decrease in insurance claims since instituting the program in 2018, but as of this publication cannot yet be sure of the impact of the pandemic this past year.
Action Steps
• We are adding bonus points to the wellness application to encourage more exercise of at-home workers.
• We continue to follow strictest protocols for in-office workers.
4. Organizational Culture
Goals
• IMC believes that our culture based on addressing the needs of all stakeholders and treating them as we would ourselves is critical to success.
• Our employee engagement strategy, overseen by the President and Chief Engagement Officer, is directed by the CHRO, consistently promotes our organizational values, purpose, and goals through all our engagement and learning tactics and ensures the culture is communicated to other stakeholders as well.
• Employees continually cite our employee stock ownership program as a positive benefit in engagement surveys, and the company continues to have a high level of retention among all stakeholder groups.
Tactics
• A clear employee branding strategy linked to our purpose and values reinforced in key meetings and recruitment efforts.
• Special training for sales, customer service, and all employees to promote a culture of helping.
• Quarterly all-hands live video meeting with CEO on performance and other issues.
• Ongoing engagement assessment through the employee app.
• A peer-to-peer and manager-to-peer rewards and recognition plan tied to goals and values.
• An off-site and online university and Knowledge Management center.
• Employee Resource Groups, as well as Customer, Supply Chain, and Distribution Partner councils.
• Flexible working hours; minimum three-weeks of vacation, and a comprehensive health plan, 401K employee stock ownership plan.
• Maternity and paternity leave.
• Quality circles and innovation programs.
• Employees in all classes receive bonus pay when asked to work during off hours.
Metrics
• Human Capital ROI and Value Add.
• Employee turnover by job category, business unit, and location--voluntary and involuntary turnover.
• Overall employee engagement scores and annual motivational mapping.
• Talent referrals by current employees.
• Actions recommended by Quality Circles and other stakeholder councils; percentage and status of those acted upon, and their impact on the organization either financial or based on other goals.
Results
• Because the company was forced to furlough many of our full-time exhibition related staff and contractors, we experienced a lower percentage of voluntary resignations than the prior year.
• Employee engagement scores fell only slightly from the company’s target of 90% job satisfaction.
• So far, most furloughed employees have returned to work upon recall, and our ongoing surveys with others indicates that most will return if their jobs can be restored by sometime in 2021.
Action steps
As a result of anticipated higher turnover in 2021 and 2022, we are implementing the following steps:
As a result of anticipated higher turnover in 2021 and 2022, we are implementing the following steps:
• A gradual return to a hybrid office based on the needs of each business unit and an employee, with a goal of enabling most employees to work three days in the office with their teams and two-days off.
• A redesign of the office layout of the main office in NYC to accommodate spacing requirements and the more flexible office schedule focused on having team-members working on specific projects in the office on the same days to reinforce collaboration.
• Institution of a monthly 15-minute scheduled check-in program with each employee by a representative of HR to make sure all is well; helping to address financial or other areas of stress, and to make sure they are taking advantage of company benefits.
• Gradual rehiring of furloughed employees for the exhibition business with the goal of restoring most jobs by January 2022.
• Reinstitution of our quarterly off-site get-togethers with management starting in the 4th quarter of 2021, assuming the pandemic remains under control in the New York City area.
5. Productivity
Goals
• Under the direction of our CHRO, IMC continually monitors the productivity of our human capital investments against customer service to minimize risks of unintended consequences.
• To ensure that decisions related to productivity do not have a negative impact on quality or customer satisfaction, IMC carefully weighs productivity data against customer satisfaction and retention data.
Tactics
• The productivity metrics are included in our core human capital metrics and shared with all business units and line managers.
• The human capital plans of each business unit address how the division will optimize productivity to foster continuous improvement while also optimizing the customer experience.
• Management incentive plans reward achieving human capital management goals for their business units, including DEI, productivity, quality, and retention goals.
Metrics
IMC assesses productivity based on:
• Human Capital Value Add and ROI.
• New products and services launched.
• Technologies developed and revenues and costs to the organization, as well as estimated potential.
• Businesses created, both in terms of sales and profits; cost-saving initiatives, or new assets created, such as knowledge shared in our Knowledge Management system.
• Demographics of employees involved in the above initiatives.
Results
• Employee productivity metrics dropped only slightly because the furloughs occurred in our less profitable exhibitions business.
• Productivity in our research business and information divisions declined only slightly, and showed strong improvement in our digital business units. Revenues and profitability in these areas were not as deeply affected by the pandemic because of strength in several of our industry sectors, notably food services, information technology, ground transportation, and agriculture.
Action steps
IMC will carefully manage productivity as we gradually restore furloughed employees and will continue to expand into its 365-day-a-year approach to face-to-face event experiences.
IMC will carefully manage productivity as we gradually restore furloughed employees and will continue to expand into its 365-day-a-year approach to face-to-face event experiences.
6. Recruitment, Mobility, Turnover
Goals
• IMC requires educated, informed employees with strong communications skills, emotional intelligence, and the ability to adapt to technology.
• Our goals are to minimize turnover and recruitment costs and employee replacement time, under the oversight of the CHRO.
• This requires recruiting from the broadest possible community based on age, gender preference, color, ethnicity, and income, etc.
Tactics
• IMC has a profit-sharing program for all employees starting at 12 months that becomes fully vested in seven years and has gainsharing programs in special instances.
• We employ a job design expert when creating new positions to make positions as interesting as possible.
• IMC has a talent branding, recruitment, and development process that makes sure that our recruiting team reaches the broadest possible audience.
• We look for non-traditional talent in terms of age, education, ex-convicts, neuro-divergence, or job experience and have no set retirement age.
• Employees are rewarded for referrals and bonus points are provided for non-traditional, minority, or other disadvantaged talent.
• We develop talent and promote from within and encourage job-sharing.
• We assess employee mood daily on the employee smart phone application pulse survey.
• The company’s employee engagement application data is used for performance appraisals, because it shows actual participation in and results of employee activities.
Metrics
• Cost per hire, including fees, allocation for staff time to replace employees, and onboarding time.
• Percentage of people participating in the referral time and percentage of successful hires.
• Mobility—% of people who voluntarily move up or change jobs in the organization and percentage who participate in the job-sharing program.
Results
The effects of the pandemic greatly distorted our Recruitment, Mobility, and Turnover metrics, because:
• Hiring drew to a near halt and there were almost no employee referrals due to a lack of openings.
• Mobility drew to an almost halt due to minimal job openings.
• The job-sharing program proved invaluable in supporting employees who fell ill with Covid or who had family member(s) to assist.
7. Skills and Capabilities
Goals
• Our goals are to develop and fill positions from within, minimize turnover and recruitment costs and employee replacement time, all under the oversight of the CHRO. This requires recruiting from the broadest possible community based on age, gender preference, color, ethnicity, and income, etc.
Tactics
Mandatory training includes team dynamics, appreciation and recognition, DEI, and sexual harassment issues and, training in technology or other skills. Other training includes:
• Basic training for all new employees in our values, communication skills, etc., and skills refresher courses.
• The IMC Knowledge Management platform continually updated with employee-contributed videos in all areas of our business as well as company programs and values.
• An ongoing learning game on the engagement smart phone app.
• Special training for the sales team on “discovery” processes to help clients, rather than sell.
• Quarterly team offsites at local restaurants that reinforce values (temporarily suspended during Covid but set to be resumed when infections spread below 1%.)
Metrics
• Cost per hire, including fees, allocation for staff time to replace employees, and onboarding time.
• % of people participating in the referral program and percentage of successful hires.
• Mobility—% of people who voluntarily move up or change jobs in the organization and percentage who participate in the job-sharing program, all by key demographic groups.
Results
• The pandemic curtailed face-to-face training but had no impact on the company’s digital Knowledge Management and learning module on our Enterprise Engagement application. In fact, there was a significant increase in usage of the learning platforms, especially with furloughed employees who still have access to the platforms.
• There was no significant change in the cost-per-hire and an increase in the number of referrals; there was a decrease in mobility due to furloughs.
8. Customer Engagement
• IMC strategically focuses on continually identifying and addressing customer needs to minimize the cost of sales and maximize retention. Our CMO reports directly to the COO and works closely with the CHRO and other division heads to ensure alignment of external and internal messaging. Sales management and Customer service report to the CMO to ensure alignment between promises made in marketing and those made by salespeople.
• IMC’s business development model focuses on helping, not selling. We train our salespeople heavily to use a “discovery” approach to better understand customer needs.
• IMC has an online Knowledge Management Center specifically curated with content and research for customers, including readers and business customers.
• Employees receive bonus points in the company’s recognition program for contributing content and/or videos for the Knowledge Management platform.
• IMC’s innovation program is open to customers, who also can earn rewards based on providing suggestions we implement.
• IMC holds an annual customer council (held virtually in 2020 and 2021) in which we invite all established customers that spend over $50,000 a year to send an employee for collaborative learning sessions that covers the latest trends, issues, and challenges in each of our industries.
• IMC has an active customer referral program that rewards clients for referring customers outside of their companies or in other divisions in the manner consistent with the policies of each company.
• IMC surveys all customers once a year using a professional third-party service that includes a brief email and a phone call to establish level of customer satisfaction.
• IMC has a surprise and delight program that gives the sales team a small budget for discretionary thoughtful gifts to customers in accordance with their organizational policies as a tangible expression of appreciation.
Metrics
• Revenues, costs, turnover, and willingness to refer of customers, including participation in the referral program.
• Responses to the customer surveys, whose results are fed back to all management to address in their business plans.
Results
• While IMC experienced a significant deterioration in sales in 2020, levels of customer satisfaction scores rose, we believe, because of our proactive efforts to continue covering the news and supporting the information and research needs in our 82 markets despite the huge downturn suffered by many.
• As a result of our longstanding commitment to digital and virtual solutions, as well as research, we were less affected by the pandemic than our competitors that have a greater focus on traditional print and physical exhibitions.
Action plan
While being compelled to reduce expenses in all departments to protect liquidity, IMC maintained its emphasis on providing ongoing useful information via its digital platforms, greatly expanding its video offerings both for customer events and through its IMC University for all stakeholders.
While being compelled to reduce expenses in all departments to protect liquidity, IMC maintained its emphasis on providing ongoing useful information via its digital platforms, greatly expanding its video offerings both for customer events and through its IMC University for all stakeholders.
9. Supply Chain and Distributor Engagement
Goals
• IMC depends heavily on its supply chain, especially in exhibition and technology services, and to a lesser extent on independent sales representatives and agencies that assist our business clients.
• We have a strategic plan to continually evaluate the best options and services for our customers and train our suppliers and distributors, and to select from the most diverse community of partners as possible.
Tactics
• A series of courses on our IMC University for our Distribution Partners and Supply Chain, all of whom have access to a Knowledge Management Center provide the latest information available about our company and topics to help them work more effectively with IMC.
• We participate in the National Minority Supplier Council to continually identify new partners.
• We survey relevant IMC business managers each year related to the level of service and costs of each vendor.
• We survey suppliers and distribution partners each year to rate their satisfaction with our practices and participation in our annual university.
• Supply chain and distributor councils provide a regulary source of ideas and feedback.
Metrics
• Number of vendors, turnover, and costs per vendor by type.
• Supplier and distribution partner willingness to recommend.
• Outsourced services costs as a percentage of total business unit costs.
• Customer satisfaction surveys conducted of IMC managers and of IMC readers or event attendees.
• Diversity of supply chain and distribution partners compared with availability of resources.
2020 Results
• In past years, IMC has maintained a highly efficient and cost-effective supply and distribution management process, based on our cost and quality controls, sales, and profitability performance.
• Especially due to the disruptions in our trade show and conference businesses, IMC experienced a significant decrease in the number of vendors used, as well as costs per vendor, along with a significant decrease in activity from our distribution partners.
Action plan
As our exhibition and other businesses resume activity, IMC intends to re-focus on its supply chain and distribution channel development efforts through one-to-one engagement with the respective purchasing teams.
As our exhibition and other businesses resume activity, IMC intends to re-focus on its supply chain and distribution channel development efforts through one-to-one engagement with the respective purchasing teams.
10. Community Engagement
Goals
In addition to ad hoc charitable contributions in accordance with IMC’s corporate values and allocations from profits each year, administered by our Vice President of Corporate Social Responsibility, IMC focuses on two charitable activities directly related to its business goals and values.
To develop a “farm team” of talent for all its division, IMC supports already active or desired programs determined by area high school districts or administrations, such as:
• Performing arts that promote confidence, presentation abilities, teamwork, and production skills.
• Technology and math clubs.
• English and second language programs.
• The school newspaper, official social network, or other communications.
While the program includes schools of all income levels, particular emphasis and funding goes to disadvantaged school districts.
Metrics
• Level of satisfaction of the school districts based on annual evaluations based on sector.
• Number of students and IMC employees who participate and remained engaged in the mentorship programs.
• IMC mentor satisfaction with the program.
• Percentage of participating employees who apply for and are accepted for summer job or later full-time jobs.
• Number of students remaining in school through high school and who go on to participate in higher education of any kind.
Results and Action Plan
The mentorship program had to be effectively suspended until the 2021-22 school year because of video overload. Nonetheless, in the first two years, the programs received high marks from the participating school districts and mentors and will be continued in the 2021 and 2022 school years as schools re-open.
Goals
IMC focuses on two charitable programs:
1. Grandparents for All Program
The program matches senior citizen homes with communities in need of toddler and infant day care, with a focus on lower income areas under-served by traditional day care programs in a way that provides income for eligible seniors.
Results. Since creation of the program in 2015 as a test, the foundation has created 20 senior-care centers and employed over 400 seniors, with 80% expressing high levels of engagement as expressed in mood and feedback surveys. However, the program had to be suspended because of Covid-19.
2. Downtown America Program
Invests in urban and rural downtowns that can benefit from a new model of prosperity based on co-locating attractive, flexible office space; local amenities; and affordable housing to attract startups and regional office locations.
Results
• Our investment is based on the results against goals and is based on funds available based on achieving our minimal acceptable financial goals each year. This concept received a significant boost from Covid-19 in terms of increased interest of businesses and communities as a result of the work-from-home phenomenon.
Addendum
1. Compliance
Goals
• IMC must comply with tax and employee regulations in 26 states and minimally in six countries.
• The policy is to comply not only with the letter but the spirit of regulations to maintain positive relationships with government authorities and the communities in which our employees operate.
• Minimize risks and associated costs.
• Our CHRO is responsible for maintenance of our compliance strategy.
Tactics
• We maintain a continually updated electronic binder contains an accounting of every relevant regulation in every region; the nature, timing, and frequency of the disclosure or procedure; costs involved; the person in charge, and the status of compliance for each item.
• We review all compliance issues in a quarterly meeting with appropriate managers.
Metrics
IMC tracks:
• Violations.
• Penalties.
• Regulatory actions.
• And employee legal actions by type, number, and cost.
Results
The number and value of compliance and legal issues remains de minimis and if anything was further reduced by the pandemic. The company did not experience a single citation or violation in 2020.
Action Steps
IMC continually monitors the regulatory mandates in all its operating areas and is particularly alert to changes in Covid-19 circumstances; additional privacy legislative actions in California and other states that could affect circulation and attendee management practices costs, as well as to equal opportunity and sexual harassment prevention.
IMC continually monitors the regulatory mandates in all its operating areas and is particularly alert to changes in Covid-19 circumstances; additional privacy legislative actions in California and other states that could affect circulation and attendee management practices costs, as well as to equal opportunity and sexual harassment prevention.
2. Costs
Goals
• IMC manages human management costs as a % of revenues and against customer engagement scores to ensure that we are achieving an ROI from our people while promoting quality.
• We look at costs in the context of new assets created by our people in their business units, such as Intellectual Property; products and profit centers; technology; knowledge shared, etc.
• The CEO and CHRO share these duties.
Tactics
• The annual human capital management plan includes clear cost metrics for each division related to people management.
• We measure and track the value added by new products and services by business unit in terms of revenues and profits whenever possible.
Metrics
• Employee costs are broken out by payroll; taxes; benefits, incentives, recognition, and commissions, professional development, travel, and Knowledge Management contributions.
• Customer costs broken out by sales and marketing (by category); customer service; R&D or other costs, travel, and entertainment.
• Supply chain costs are broken out by vendor, type of expense, and unit.
• Costs are expressed as ratios to revenue and profit and reported quarterly to leaders, or more often if a serious deviation is occurring.
2020 results
As a result of the pandemic, IMC experienced a significant decrease in costs across the board because of:
As a result of the pandemic, IMC experienced a significant decrease in costs across the board because of:
• The need to furlough 20% of our employees due to cessation of all events and significantly reduced research and marketing budgets.
• The elimination of almost all events and related expenses.
• Reductions in training, travel, elimination of the IMC University live annual event for 2020 and 2021.
• Reduced sales and marketing expenses.
• IMC provided 100% of health care coverage for all furloughed employees.
Action steps
• Regular communications with furloughed employees.
• Rehiring employees as quickly as possible based on restoration of the exhibition business and of the recovery of some of the hard-hit industries in our portfolio.
3. Employee Bench Strength
Goals
• As a result of our professional development and job-sharing activities, IMC has a strong employee bench strength strategy, overseen by the CHRO.
• Our goals are to minimize disruptions caused by unexpected talent departures and to create job opportunities for internal employees.
Tactics
• Our annual human capital management and business unit plans all include a key-person succession plan and/or the action to be taken in the case of an unexpected departure.
• Our employee bench strength is greatly aided by our “seniors welcome” program that encourages retirees to work part-time and our non-conventional hiring practices, including minority, LGBTQ, neuro-divergent, minority, ex-convict, etc. communities.
Metrics
• Time and cost to replace an employee (indicating a high level of bench-strength if we don't need to hire from without.)
• Percentage of promotions from within, tracked by demographics.
• Number of key positions that have replacements ready now or within two years.
Results
Our employee bench strength strategy focused on internal Professional Development and Job sharing significantly mitigated the disruptions caused by the pandemic by having employees already set up to support others in time of sickness or family health challenges.
4. Workforce Availability
Goals
• IMC continually assesses its pool of candidates to draw from for all its skills requirements: general management, finance, technology, editorial and content, marketing, technology, and events.
• There is an ample supply in the NYC area but there is increasing competition for this talent, perhaps offset by the ability to recruit talent from other parts of the country due to the work-from-home phenomenon.
Tactics
• IMC has developed an outreach program to support regional middle school and high schools in the city and metropolitan area to develop a potential “farm team” for talent for all our businesses. (See Community Engagement, section 10.)
• Because IMC also values diversity of tall types in our workforce, our company has a greater availability for talent than those that ignore it.
Metrics
• Time and cost to fill a position, by type and level of position.
• Percentage of employees participating in referral programs.
• Percentage of “farm team” participants recruited by the company and the percentage who remain.
• Diversity of our employees in comparison with the demographics of our community.
Results
Workforce availability metrics did not change significantly in 2020; if anything, availability has grown due to our ability to consider candidates in geographic areas we would have overlooked in the past.
Action steps
Despite across-the-board budget cuts to protect liquidity, IMC maintained funding for its regional training workshops in low-income communities to ensure continuity.
Despite across-the-board budget cuts to protect liquidity, IMC maintained funding for its regional training workshops in low-income communities to ensure continuity.
Master the “S” of Environmental, Social, Governance (ESG), A.k.a. Stakeholder Capitalism
The Enterprise Engagement Alliance at TheEEA.org is the world’s first and only organization that focuses on outreach, certification and training, and advisory services to help organizations achieve their goals by fostering the proactive involvement of all stakeholders. This includes customers, employees, distribution and supply chain partners, and communities, or anyone connected to an organization’s success.
Training and Thought Leadership
- Founded in 2008, the Enterprise Engagement Alliance provides outreach, learning and certification in Enterprise Engagement, an implementation process for the “S” or Social of Stakeholder Capitalism and Human Capital Management and measurement of engagement across the organization.
- The Enterprise Engagement Alliance provides a training and certification program for business leaders, practitioners, and solution providers, as well as executive briefings and human capital gap analyses for senior leaders.
- The EEA produces an education program for CFOs for the CFO.University training program on Human Capital Management.
- Join the EEA to become a leader in the implementation of the “S” of ESG and Stakeholder Capitalism.
Engagement Digital Media and Marketplaces- The ESM information portal and The Enterprise Engagement Advisors Network solution provider marketplace cover all aspects of stakeholder engagement, and the EEA information library lists dozens of resources.
- The RRN information portal and Brand Media Coalition marketplace address the use of brands for gifting, incentives, recognition, and promotions. The BMC information library provides information and research resources.
Video Learning
The EEA Human Capital Management and ROI of Engagement YouTube channel features a growing library of 30- to 60-minute panel discussions with leading experts in all areas of engagement and total rewards.
Books- Enterprise Engagement for CEOs: The Little Blue Book for People-Centric Capitalists. A quick guide for CEOs.
- Enterprise Engagement: The Roadmap 5th Edition implementation guide. A comprehensive textbook for practitioners, academics, and students.
Enterprise Engagement Advisory Services
The Engagement Agency helps:
- Organizations of all types develop strategic Stakeholder Capitalism and Enterprise Engagement processes and human capital management and reporting strategies; conduct human capital gap analyses; design and implement strategic human capital management and reporting plans that address DEI (Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion), and assist with managed outsourcing of engagement products and services.
- Human resources, sales and marketing solution providers profit from the emerging discipline of human capital management and ROI of engagement through training and marketing services.
- Investors make sense of human capital reporting by public companies.
- Buyers and sellers of companies in the engagement space or business owners or buyers who seek to account for human capital in their mergers and acquistions.
For more information: Contact Bruce Bolger at Bolger@TheICEE.org or call 914-591-7600, ext. 230.
