9. Talent Management or Human Capital? An Analysis of Corporate Communication Strategies with Integrated Reports

Different issues are identified in literature regarding talent management and human capital such as risk management, the need to be innovative, or attractiveness in the labor market in order to develop a competitive advantage. In this research, we mainly wonder why and how listed companies report and disclose information about their talent management programs. Indeed, social performance has become a major issue for Socially Responsible Investors, and other pragmatic shareholders want to understand how companies use their talent in order to create value. Our sample has been built with IIRC examples database composed of 116 reports, in May 2015. We have selected reports signaled for their remarkable disclosures about intangible capitals. A total of 11 listed companies were found. Then, we built a liked-peer sample, with 11 similar listed companies. Our findings highlight that the quality of reports remains disappointing. Most companies fail to document how they manage their human capital, and which practices are actually implemented in order to manage talents. The efficiency, or performance, of such programs is not disclosed, and one can also wonder if they are truly being properly assessed.