The Ford Foundation has announced grants in support of research projects focused on human capital management (HCM).

Grants were awarded to seven projects designed to help investors and other stakeholders understand the impacts of workforce management and compensation on company performance and other domains. Recipients include Ellen Frank-Miller, founder and CEO of WORC (Workforce & Organizational Research Center), who will measure the effects of frontline workers’ job quality on the financial and human capital management outcomes of private equity-owned companies; researchers Alex Edmans, Caroline Flammer, and Simon Glossner, who will study the effect of diversity, equity, and inclusion and its links with firm performance; and Ifeoma Ike, founder of Pink Cornrows, who will study how diversity announcements within companies impact performance, satisfaction, morale, and health outcomes.

According to the Ford Foundation, only 15 percent of U.S. public companies disclose wage data, and even fewer report on benefits costs, worker retention, and training initiatives. In 2022, the foundation partnered with Just Capital to issue an RFP for research that would contribute to an evidence base for changing standards, practices, and regulations.

“HCM disclosure makes intuitive sense,” wrote Margot Brandenburg, the foundation’s senior program officer for mission investments, in a blog post. “Shareholders and others should be able to see how companies manage this mission-critical, value-generating asset.”

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