The task of compiling and publishing up to 200 indicators about companies’ own workforce — covering 17 areas such as employment, equality, training, social dialogue, and health and safety — is an unprecedented challenge under CSRD. For many companies facing these transparency requirements for the first time from 2025, the exercise may seem daunting. This comes amid mounting resistance to what some executives, lobbyists and politicians describe as excess ‘bureaucracy’, prompting Brussels to revisit its directive. The thresholds for CSRD, the level of assurance provided by auditors and the number of indicators required are set to be lowered with the draft omnibus directive currently being negotiated in the European Parliament. Despite this context, a study conducted in the spring by WeAreEurope among 1,000 companies found that 88% feel CSRD embodies the European “economic, social and environmental vision”, while 62% consider it a “strategic asset” for the continent’s sovereignty.
Although there are no official figures on how many large companies — those with more than 500 employees and annual revenues above €40 million — have yet to publish sustainability reports, German-based firms appear to be the most represented, despite the directive not yet being transposed into national law. This is shown by the European Financial Reporting Advisory Group (EFRAG), the association that defined the reporting indicators, in a July study on the first CSRD reports. It also reveals that 99% of companies have published data on their workforce (the ESRS S1 reporting standard). This means that their dual materiality analysis, which consists of assessing the financial effect of a sustainability issue on them and their impact on society in this area, has led them to consider the subject as material to them.
We seized the opportunity presented by this new mass of audited information to develop a tool for comparing working conditions in large European companies. To this end, mind RH focused on five quantified indicators in a groundbreaking study: turnover, the gender pay gap, the rate of workplace accidents, the rate of part-time work and the rate of collective bargaining coverage. We selected the four countries with the most companies (57 based in Germany, 36 in Denmark, 44 in France and 41 in the Netherlands) from the CSRD reports published at the end of June. They operate in 14 different sectors, with banking and insurance, metals and business services being the most represented. Their average size is 62,000 employees worldwide.
A tool for attractiveness
When the directive was unveiled, the increased requirement for transparency, both on social and environmental impact, was presented as contributing to improving the quality of information available on these subjects. There are two types of recipients: investors who wish to fund sustainable companies, but also individuals, particularly job applicants and company employees.
Datajournalisme, économie et numérique. J’enseigne aussi le journalisme de données à l’EDJ de Sciences Po Paris.