B8 – Workforce – General characteristics

🗂️ VSME Basic Module – Social metrics, page 10

The undertaking shall disclose the number of employees in headcount or full-time equivalent for the following metrics:

(a) type of employment contract (temporary or permanent);

(b) gender; and

If the undertaking employs 50 or more employees, it shall disclose the employee turnover rate for the reporting period.

🗂️ VSME Basic Module Guidance – Social Metrics, page 38-39

Full-time equivalent (FTE) is the number of full-time positions in an undertaking. It can be calculated by dividing an employee’s scheduled hours (total effective hours worked in a week) by the employer’s hours for a full-time workweek (total hours performed by full-time employees). For example, an employee who works 25 hours every week for a company where the full-time week is 40 hours represents a 0,625 FTE (i.e. 25/ 40 hours).
Headcount is the total number of people employed by the undertaking at a given time.

Guidance on how to present information about employees’ contract types

The following table shows how information on employees may be presented by type of employment contract.

Type of contract	Number of employees (headcount or full-time equivalents)
Temporary contract
Permanent contract
Total employees

The following table shows how information on employees may be presented by gender.

Gender	Number of employees (headcount or full-time equivalents)
Male
Female
Other
Not reported
Total employees

In some European Union Member States, it is possible for people to legally register themselves as having a third gender, often neutral, which is to be categorised as ‘other’ in the table above. If the undertaking is disclosing data about employees where this is not possible, it may explain this and indicate that the ‘other’ category is not applicable. The ‘not reported’ category applies to employees who do not disclose their gender identity.
The following table shows how information on employees may be presented by countries

Country (of employment contract)	Number of employees (headcount or full-time equivalents)
Country A
Country B
Country C
Country D
Total employees

Definitions and types of employment contracts may vary depending on the country. If the undertaking has employees working in more than one country, it shall use the legal definitions stipulated in the national laws of the countries where the employees are based in to calculate country-level data. Such country-level data shall then be added up to calculate total numbers, disregarding differences in national legal definitions.
Employee turnover refers to employees who leave the undertaking voluntarily or due to dismissal, retirement or death in service.
In order to calculate the turnover rate, the formula below should be used.

[𝑁𝑢𝑚𝑏𝑒𝑟 𝑜𝑓 𝑒𝑚𝑝𝑙𝑜𝑦𝑒𝑒𝑠 𝑤ℎ𝑜 𝑙𝑒𝑓𝑡 𝑑𝑢𝑟𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑟𝑒𝑝𝑜𝑟𝑡𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑦𝑒𝑎𝑟 / 𝐴𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑎𝑔𝑒 𝑛𝑢𝑚𝑏𝑒𝑟 𝑜𝑓 𝑒𝑚𝑝𝑙𝑜𝑦𝑒𝑒𝑠 𝑑𝑢𝑟𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑟𝑒𝑝𝑜𝑟𝑡𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑦𝑒𝑎𝑟] 𝑥 100