Number of full-time equivalent employees who reside in low-income areas and work for enterprises directly financed or supported by the organization at the beginning of the reporting period and who remain at the organization as of the end of the reporting period.
Many organizations select the beginning of the reporting period as the time when the organization began its support or investment.
Organizations should footnote all assumptions used, including how they identify low-income areas. Organizations that report data for more than one reporting period should be careful to very clearly footnote which they are using for this metric. See usage guidance for further information.
This metric is intended to capture jobs in low-income areas maintained during the reporting period at directly supported or financed enterprises.
Organizations may choose to disclose employment by function (for example, operations and maintenance, construction, or land conservation).
Organizations should measure the number of maintained full-time equivalent positions at the organization, regardless of the number of unique individuals employed or the positions they held. For example, if a full-time equivalent employee resigns and the position is filled, this position should count as just one full-time equivalent job maintained, and none created.
The three metrics for jobs at supported/financed enterprises relate to one another, as follows. Jobs Maintained at Directly Supported/Financed Enterprises: Total (PI5691) and Jobs Created at Directly Supported/Financed Enterprises: Total (PI3687) sum to Jobs in Directly Supported/Financed Enterprises (PI4874). For example, if an investor provided a loan to a small business that had 10 employees at the time the loan was provided and 15 employees as of the end of the reporting period, Jobs Created at Directly Supported/Financed Enterprises: Total (PI3687) would be 5; Jobs in Directly Supported/Financed Enterprises (PI4874) would be 15; and Jobs Maintained at Directly Supported/Financed Enterprises: Total (PI5691) would be 10.
Organizations can refer to the glossary for additional information on defining low-income areas.
While this metric requests data on full-time equivalents (FTE), organizations are encouraged to break down these data for full- and part-time positions supported/financed. Most companies break down their headcount into full- and part-time positions, which investors often translate into FTE. For translation from headcount to FTE, organizations should refer to the following guidance, as well as the IRIS glossary term on full-time equivalent. In brief, in calculating the number of full-time equivalent jobs, part-time jobs should be converted to full-time equivalent jobs on a pro rata basis, following local definitions (for example, if the standard working week equals 40 hours, a 20-hour-per-week job would be 0.5 FTE). Both full- and part-time jobs should be calculated based on the number employed as of the end of the reporting period. Seasonal or short-term jobs should be prorated based on the time worked during the reporting period. (For example, a full-time position for three months at any point during the reporting period would be 0.25 FTE.) If information about hours is not available, organizations may equate two part-time jobs to one full-time job for this calculation. Note that, in the United States, the U.S. Treasury Department defines a working week as 35 hours.
If there is significant seasonal variation in the number of workers, organizations are encouraged to average the number of FTEs over the reporting period for temporary workers, using the FTE calculation above. Where companies employ piece-rate workers, consider the headcount of the number of workers paid piece-rate and estimate the proportion of FTE represented by that category of workers (e.g., if there are 200 piece-rate workers on site each day for 6 months of the year, then FTE = 200 x 6/12 = 100). Similarly, if an organization has many workers on variable hours or contracts, including day laborers, organizations are encouraged to include the average number of workers on a typical day (total over 24 hours, if shift work), as well as the proportion of the year those employees are working.
Organizations are encouraged to report other job-related metrics to assess the quality of jobs created. Examples of these include Worker Safety Policy (018001), Employment Benefits (OI2742), Employees Trained (OI4229), Flexible Work Arrangements (OI7983), and Employees: Minimum Wage (OI5858).
This metric is multi-dimensional with regard to the five dimensions of impact: it may help describe the WHO dimension when the stakeholder group represented by the metric is the stakeholder group targeted by the investment or organization. It may also help measure the HOW MUCH Scale dimension, which helps estimate the number of the targeted stakeholders experiencing the outcome. For more on the alignment of IRIS metrics to the five dimensions of impact, see IRIS+ and the Five Dimensions of Impact (https://iris.thegiin.org/document/iris-and-the-five-dimensions/). No single metric is sufficient to understand an impact; rather, metrics are selected as a set across all dimensions of impact. When possible, the selection of metrics to measure and describe the five dimensions should be based on best practice and evidence.
This is a submetric of Jobs Maintained at Directly Supported/Financed Enterprises: Total (PI5691), which has 0 other related submetrics.
Metrics identified as "cross-category" are those that are relevant to any IRIS+ Impact Category or Impact Theme (i.e., these metrics are not specific to any particular industry/category or theme).
June 2025 - IRIS+ v5.3b Released (current version)
No change.
December 2024 - IRIS+ v5.3a Released
No change.
June 2022 - IRIS+ v5.3 Released
Immaterial change. Minor revisions to definition and usage guidance for clarity.
May 2021 - IRIS+ v5.2 Released
No change.
January 2020 - IRIS+ v5.1 Released
Immaterial change. Minor revision to Usage Guidance for clarity.
May 2019 - IRIS+ v5.0 Released
No change.
March 2016 - IRIS+ v4.0 Released
Immaterial change. Metric definition language modified for additional accuracy.
March 2014 - IRIS+ v3.0 Released
Material change. Metric definition modified to provide clarity from the Land Conservation Working Group.
November 2011 - IRIS+ v2.2 Released
No change.
February 2011 - IRIS+ v2.1 Released
No change.
September 2010 - IRIS+ v2.0 Released
New metric. Jobs Maintained (In Financed Enterprises): Low Income Areas (PI2688) was developed via the Financial Services Working Group.
IRIS Metrics Work Better in Sets
To use IRIS metrics—and the resulting data—to understand impact performance, IRIS metrics should be used and analyzed in generally accepted sets and according to well-defined objectives. IRIS+ gives you access to generally accepted Core Metrics Sets aligned to common Impact Themes and Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).