Workforce Taxonomy

1. Purpose

This section defines the Workforce Disclosure Intent (CDI) taxonomy for workforce-related sustainability disclosures within Canonical ESG.

The Workforce taxonomy captures the semantic meaning of commonly requested information related to an organisation’s own workforce, independent of value judgements, social outcomes, or regulatory compliance.

The taxonomy:

  • is framework-agnostic,
  • does not prescribe disclosure obligations,
  • does not assess fairness, adequacy, or effectiveness,
  • is intended to be reused across frameworks via Canonical Mapping Packs (CMPs).

Workforce CDIs focus on descriptive facts, counts, rates, and processes related to employment, health and safety, and workforce management.

2. Taxonomy Structure

Workforce disclosure intents are grouped into the following logical domains:

  1. Workforce Composition
  2. Employment Structure
  3. Workforce Movement
  4. Training and Skills Development
  5. Occupational Health and Safety
  6. Worker Representation
  7. Governance, Policies, and Methodology

Each disclosure intent:

  • has a unique identifier,
  • represents a single semantic concept,
  • may be quantitative, narrative, or hybrid,
  • may reference one or more canonical data elements.

3. Workforce Disclosure Intents

3.1 Workforce Composition

CDI-WORK-01
Total workforce size

The total number of individuals employed by the organisation at the reporting date.

CDI-WORK-02
Workforce by employment type

Workforce disaggregated by employment type (e.g. permanent, temporary, full-time, part-time).

CDI-WORK-03
Workforce by contract type

Workforce disaggregated by contract type (e.g. employee, contractor), where tracked.

CDI-WORK-04
Workforce by geography

Workforce disaggregated by geographic region or country.

3.2 Employment Structure

CDI-WORK-05
New hires

The number of individuals hired during the reporting period.

CDI-WORK-06
Employee departures

The number of individuals leaving employment during the reporting period.

CDI-WORK-07
Employee turnover rate

Workforce turnover expressed as a rate over the reporting period.

3.3 Workforce Movement

CDI-WORK-08
Changes in workforce size

Changes in total workforce size compared to a prior reporting period.

CDI-WORK-09
Internal workforce mobility

Movement of employees within the organisation (e.g. role changes, transfers), where tracked.

3.4 Training and Skills Development

CDI-WORK-10
Training provided

Training or skills development activities provided to the workforce.

CDI-WORK-11
Average training hours

Average number of training hours provided per employee during the reporting period.

CDI-WORK-12
Training participation rate

Proportion of the workforce participating in training or skills development activities.

3.5 Occupational Health and Safety

CDI-WORK-13
Work-related injuries

Number of work-related injuries recorded during the reporting period.

CDI-WORK-14
Work-related fatalities

Number of work-related fatalities recorded during the reporting period.

CDI-WORK-15
Injury rate

Rate of work-related injuries, calculated using a defined methodology.

CDI-WORK-16
Occupational illness

Number of work-related illnesses recorded during the reporting period.

CDI-WORK-17
Health and safety incidents

Recordable occupational health and safety incidents, including near misses where tracked.

3.6 Worker Representation

CDI-WORK-18
Collective bargaining coverage

Proportion of the workforce covered by collective bargaining agreements.

3.7 Governance, Policies, and Methodology

CDI-WORK-19
Workforce-related policies

The existence and scope of organisational policies related to workforce management.

CDI-WORK-20
Workforce management responsibility

Assignment of responsibility for workforce management within the organisation.

CDI-WORK-21
Workforce reporting boundary

Organisational and operational boundaries applied to workforce data.

CDI-WORK-22
Methodology and assumptions for workforce data

Methodologies, estimation approaches, and assumptions used in workforce reporting.

4. Taxonomy Characteristics

  • Workforce CDIs are descriptive and operational, not normative.
  • CDIs do not assess fairness, adequacy, or effectiveness of workforce practices.
  • Quantitative disclosures represent counts and rates, not thresholds or targets.
  • Framework-specific interpretations are handled exclusively through CMPs.
  • Deprecated CDIs remain referenceable for historical disclosures.

5. Summary

The CDI v1 Workforce Taxonomy defines a stable semantic vocabulary for expressing workforce-related disclosure meaning across sustainability reporting frameworks.

By focusing on facts, processes, and measurements related to an organisation’s own workforce, the taxonomy enables consistent modelling, transparent interpretation, and reuse across frameworks without embedding social judgement or compliance logic.

Workforce Taxonomy Version: v1.0.0

Workforce CDI v1 Status

The Workforce Disclosure Intent taxonomy defined in this document is frozen as CDI v1.

No new Workforce CDIs will be added to v1.
Future extensions or refinements will be introduced only through subsequent major versions.

Existing Workforce CDIs will remain stable and referenceable for use in Canonical Mapping Packs and historical disclosures.

Status: Frozen
Effective version: CDI v1

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