ESRS S1-6 Employee Headcount

What ESRS S1-6 requires

ESRS S1-6 requires disclosure of the total number of employees at year-end, broken down by:

Employment type: Full-time employees vs part-time employees. Define full-time and part-time consistently — typically based on contracted hours relative to standard working hours in the relevant jurisdiction. An employee contracted for 30 hours per week where full-time is 40 hours is part-time.

Employment contract: Permanent (indefinite duration) vs temporary (fixed-term, project-based, seasonal). Also: employees provided by employment agencies where the agency is the legal employer.

Gender: Male, female, and where applicable other gender categories. Check jurisdictional restrictions on collecting gender data beyond binary categories.

Country: For companies operating in multiple countries, headcount by significant country of operation. Define which countries are 'significant' — typically those with more than 5% of total headcount or where specific reporting is required.

Additionally: the number of full-time equivalents (FTE) at year-end. FTE converts part-time headcount to a full-time equivalent — a 0.5 FTE part-time employee counts as 0.5. Also disclose whether the headcount is a year-end snapshot or an average during the year — both may be relevant for different metrics.

FTE vs headcount — why both matter and how to calculate

Headcount and FTE tell different stories about the workforce — companies that report only one of the two miss important context.

Headcount: The number of individual people employed, regardless of their working hours. A company with 100 full-time and 100 part-time employees has a headcount of 200. Headcount is relevant for understanding the number of people whose livelihoods depend on the company, social impact assessment, and legal compliance (many employment law thresholds are headcount-based).

FTE: The headcount converted to a full-time equivalent basis. 100 full-time + 100 half-time = 100 + 50 = 150 FTE. FTE is relevant for comparing labour input across companies with different full-time/part-time mixes, calculating per-employee metrics (training hours per FTE, revenue per FTE), and financial planning.

Calculation methodology: FTE = Sum of (individual employee contracted hours ÷ standard full-time hours) for all employees. Standard full-time hours must be defined per jurisdiction — typically 35–40 hours per week depending on national norm. For employees with variable hours (zero-hours contracts, casual workers), use average actual hours worked during the year.

For ESRS S1-6: disclose both year-end headcount (by the required breakdowns) and year-end FTE. Where the FTE calculation methodology differs from headcount collection (for example, using payroll FTE calculations rather than HR headcount), document and reconcile the difference.

Managing headcount data quality for assurance

ESRS S1-6 headcount data is one of the first things assurers verify — it is the denominator for almost every other S1 metric (training hours per employee, TRIR per million hours, pay gap calculations). Errors in headcount cascade through the entire ESRS S1 disclosure.

Data source alignment: Companies often have multiple headcount data sources — HR information system (HRIS), payroll system, and finance headcount reports. These should agree but frequently do not due to: timing differences (HRIS records hire date; payroll records first pay date); treatment of parental and long-term absence (active in HRIS; inactive in payroll); and different handling of contractors and agency workers.

Before first ESRS S1-6 disclosure: reconcile headcount figures across all systems. Identify and resolve discrepancies. Establish which system is the authoritative source for ESRS reporting — and document this decision.

Reference date consistency: ESRS S1-6 requires year-end headcount. Define the reference date precisely (31 December for calendar-year companies) and apply it consistently. Assurers will check that the year-end headcount represents a genuine point-in-time count and not an average or estimate.

Leavers and joiners treatment: Employees who joined and left during the reporting year should not be in the year-end headcount — only active employees at the reference date. New joiners who started on or before the reference date and are still active should be included. Long-term sick, parental leave, and other absent employees who remain employed should be included in headcount.

Frequently asked questions