The Adecco Group: Measuring skills for the future

The Adecco Group utilizes reskilling and upskilling metrics to drive long-term employability for workers and talent retention for employers. The company emphasizes the need for precise definitions of 'skilling' to ensure data credibility and auditability, while navigating challenges such as data privacy laws across 60 countries and inconsistent regional definitions of diversity. By engaging diverse stakeholders—including privacy officers, finance leaders, and external auditors—Adecco aligns its social value reporting with UN Sustainable Development Goals 4 and 8. The company advocates for materiality-based reporting over blanket standardization to avoid information overload and urges regulators to provide realistic timelines for mandatory sustainability disclosures.

• Reskilling is identified as a strategic priority because it improves long-term employability, which can lead to higher earning potential and shorter periods of unemployment for workers, while providing employers with higher performance and better talent retention.
• The Adecco Group uses skilling metrics to provide evidence of success to clients and investors, and to quantify its contribution to UN Sustainable Development Goals 4 (quality education and lifelong learning) and 8 (sustainable economic growth and decent work).
• Establishing a precise, shared definition of upskilling and reskilling is critical for data credibility and third-party audit assurance; for instance, the company determined that onboarding training would not be included in its metrics.
• Gathering consistent global data is complicated by varying national legislation on data privacy and differing regional definitions of categories such as ethnicity, young or mature workers, and the long-term unemployed.
• To ensure data accuracy and auditability, the company engaged a wide range of internal and external partners, including data privacy officers in 60 countries, finance leaders to develop revenue-based proxy metrics, and external auditors.
• The green transition presents a specific challenge for talent metrics, as companies must determine how to support workers in unsustainable jobs and define 'green skills' for roles involving renting, repairing, and recycling furniture.
• The company warns against 'information overload' and argues that reporting should prioritize material data over blanket industry standardization, suggesting that new companies use 'readiness-mapping' to set priorities and disclosure timelines.
• The company criticizes the EU's planned timeline for mandatory sustainability reporting as unrealistic, stating that a two-year window is insufficient for the complex process of understanding requirements and assuring non-financial data.

APA

World Economic Forum (2022). The Adecco Group: Measuring skills for the future. https://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_SCM_TheAdeccoGroup_May_2022.pdf

Chicago

World Economic Forum. The Adecco Group: Measuring skills for the future. 2022. https://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_SCM_TheAdeccoGroup_May_2022.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=World Economic Forum |title=The Adecco Group: Measuring skills for the future |date=May 2022 |url=https://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_SCM_TheAdeccoGroup_May_2022.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{worldeconomicforum2022adecco, author = {{World Economic Forum}}, title = {{The Adecco Group: Measuring skills for the future}}, institution = {World Economic Forum}, year = {2022}, month = may, url = {https://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_SCM_TheAdeccoGroup_May_2022.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }