Standards Development

Scope

This international technical specification describes the elements of succession planning metrics and provides comparable measures for internal and external reporting.

The TS also highlights issues that need to be considered when interpreting the succession planning data especially when deciding on the appropriate intervention internally and when reporting these to external stakeholders (e.g. regulators, investors).

Purpose

This proposal builds on the work of ISO/TC260 WG2 metrics. At the Bali Plenary 2017, WG 2 proposed that future NWIP for metrics should be clustered according to the requirements of standards being developed. The initial clusters would be according to the reporting requirements of ISO/AWI 30414 – Guidelines – Human Capital Reporting for Internal and External Stakeholders. See Resolution 78. WG 2 also proposed that all metrics developed follow a defined template including: the name of the metric; definition; formula; purpose and how to use the metric (intended users and contextual factors for interpretation). See Resolution 79

ISO/DIS 30414:2017-10 Human Resource Management — Guidelines for Human Capital Reporting for Internal and External Stakeholders includes the following clusters:

1. Compliance:

2. Costs:

3. Diversity:

4. Leadership:

5. Organisational health safety & wellbeing:

6. Organizational culture:

7. Productivity:

8. Recruitment, mobility and turnover:

9. Skills and capabilities:

10. Succession planning:

11. Workforce availability:

This TECHNICAL SPECIFICATION focuses on SUCCESSION PLANNING.

In this TECHNICAL SPECIFICATION you will find the description of the internationally accepted metrics, and indicators which describes Succession Planning in organizations. ISO/DIS 30414:2017-10 Human Resource Management — Guidelines for Human Capital Reporting for Internal and External Stakeholders defines Succession Planning associated with workforce in organizations in the following ways:

Succession planning is an essential tool for sustainable workforce planning. It is the process for identifying and developing current employees with the potential to fill critical positions in the organization. Succession planning is critical to organizational success and creates an effective framework for recognizing, developing and retaining top leadership talent. It is important to note that strategic succession planning is not about talent the organization needs now; rather it is projecting the talent, knowledge, skill and competencies required for the future of an organization aligned with future growth and business plan.

For this area the following metrics are recommended for internal reporting by large organizations (unless otherwise stated):

1) Succession effectiveness rate (percentage of critical positions) (additionally recommended for internal reporting by SMEs). Succession effectiveness rate is defined as percentage of critical positions that are occupied by internal promotions versus external hires. This metric is useful for organizations that like to understand the strength of their succession pipeline.

2) Successor coverage rate

(recommended for reporting by large organizations and SMEs). This metric is useful for organizations that identify potential successors for leadership positions. The successor coverage rate defined as the average number of employees in the leadership succession pool per total number of leaders.

3) Succession readiness rate The succession readiness rate can additionally be examined in different levels (all levels recommended for internal reporting by large organizations):

a) Succession depth rate: ready now This metric is useful for organizations that identify potential successors for critical positions and provides a strong indicator regarding the strength of the succession pipeline. It can be measured as the percentage of critical positions that have “ready now” candidates identified.

b) Succession depth rate: ready in 1–3 years. This metric is measured as the percentage of critical positions that have candidates ready in 1–3 years identified for potential succession.

c) Succession depth rate: ready in 4–5 years. This metric is measured as the percentage of critical positions that have candidates ready in 4–5 years identified for potential succession.