Human‐capital measuring at the Royal Bank of Scotland

Purpose – The paper's purpose is to highlight the rigour that the Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) has applied to human‐capital measuring in its employment systems. Design/methodology/approach – Draws on the author's report for Croner's, Human Capital Management, A Management Report. Findings – Reveals how the bank links employee data with reward preferences, business productivity and turnover, to provide a rich source of feedback pointing to trends that require management action. Practical implications – Demonstrates that there are circumstances when the use of bare statistics without explanation or careful analysis could lead to less, rather than more, transparency. Judicious human‐capital reporting requires as much attention to interpretation as it does to the hard data. Originality/value – Deals with a subject that has received relatively little treatment in the HR literature.