Human Resource Risk Reporting in the European Union, India, and the U.S.
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Thomas Berger
and
Niels Olaf Angermüller
Abstract
Human resources (HR) are a driver and a risk factor for achieving business objectives. HR risks therefore should form part of risk management to derive the realistic risk exposure of a company. As companies have to inform the public of their relevant risks, HR risks should also be disclosed if they are relevant. However, evidence from existing studies shows that HR risks are not gaining the same attention as other risks, e.g. financial risks. This also stems from the fact that as of today there are no widely accepted conceptualizations for HR risk management and only little empirical evidence on the prevalence of HR risks. We therefore analyzed the annual report of listed companies from the EURO STOXX 50 from the European Union, Nifty 50 from India and Dow Jones Industrial Average from the US. We found that 87 companies mention risks in the area of HR, mainly from recruiting, retention and development. One interesting finding of our study is that companies, which apply the COSO enterprise risk management standard, are far more likely to disclose HR risks. Our study also provides a basis for categorizing HR risks for further conceptualizations.
Funding source: Hans Böckler Stiftung, Düsseldorf, Germany
Acknowledgments
The authors thank Julia Büchel and Christine Lepper for their help in preparing this study.
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Research ethics: Not applicable.
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Informed consent: Not applicable.
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Author contributions: All authors have accepted responsibility for the entire content of this manuscript and approved its submission. TB designed the work, collected data, categorized data, conducted the analysis and wrote the paper, NA desigend the work, categorized data and wrote the paper.
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Use of Large Language Models, AI and Machine Learning Tools: None declared.
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Conflict of interest: The authors state no conflict of interest.
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Research funding: The study was financially supported by the Hans Böckler Foundation.
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Data availability: Available on request.
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