GUIDANCE
LINKAGE «Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ):
Using the GRI Standards with theCulture of Health for Business
Framework (COH4B)

COH4B is supported byGlobal
Sustainability
Standards Board

A. ABOUT COH4B
1. What is the COH4B Framework?
The Culture of Health for Business (COH4B)
Framework, supported by the Robert WoodJohnson Foundation, is a pioneering, holistic
framework on the role of business in impacting thehealth and well-being of its stakeholders, linked toa curated set of principles and business practices.
It is a multi-stakeholder-developed, evidencebased public tool which companies can use to takecomprehensive action on the health and well-beingof employees, families, and communities.
COH4B identifies 16 Culture of Health Business
Practices (COHBPs) that cut across a broad set ofenvironmental, social, and governance (ESG) issues tohelp businesses build and promote a healthy working
environment and manage impacts on population
health through their operations, advocacy, marketingand branding, investments, and philanthropy.

2. Why is COH4B important?
COH4B crystalizes that the private sector is
responsible for a range of health outcomes in theworkplace, the community, and environment. Metrics
play an important role in supporting corporate
efforts to build a culture of health. Research into thecurrent state of health measures in ESG frameworks
and research methodologies shows that while many
traditional indicators of health (e.g., health andsafety, environment impacts) are strong, the fullgamut of metrics needed to support the widespread
adoption of a culture of health is missing. This deficit
is mirrored in the body of health measures actuallyreported on.
The number of companies reporting on issues suchas work-life balance, job security, health insurance
benefits, and paid parental leave is much lower
than the number reporting on occupational healthand safety and environmental impacts regardless ofindustry. Please see the COH4B report for details.

3. Why should companies use COH4B?
Companies can deploy the COHBPs either
individually or as a set to accelerate action on
health and well-being. As a set, these practices
offer companies a strategic framework to set
goals and invest in long-term value-creation, while
individually they provide guidance for companies totake targeted action. COH4B points to why healthand well-being are essential to remain competitiveand relevant. Ultimately, this offers a leadership
opportunity for companies to build a long-lasting andequitable culture of health while yielding businessbenefits.

4. Was the private sector involved in thedevelopment of COH4B?
COH4B was developed by a US-based multistakeholder group, which included companies,investors, nonprofits, public health professionals andothers. Please see the full report on COH4B for alist of Advisory Council members who steered thedevelopment of COH4B and the methodology.

5. How does COH4B relate to other health andwell-being frameworks?
An extensive literature review of existing
frameworks was conducted to develop COH4B.
Please refer to the full report on COH4B for details.

6. How should companies use COH4B?
COH4B is free and for use by the public. The
framework is most effective when holistically applied
as this is what makes it powerful. It is a starting
point so that users can build on and improve theircurrent practices. There are many ways to use
COH4B such as:\ A strategic input into developing a holistic,
forward-thinking health and well-being strategy\ A tool to support scenario planning such as formajor events like pandemics\ A tool to understand gaps in business practices

\\that support health and well-being
An input into the process of sustainability
reporting (e.g. identifying stakeholders whose
health and well-being is impacted by businessaction, inform materiality assessments)
A tool to identify key health and well-being
practices that companies can disclose on

7. Is COH4B mandatory?
No, COH4B is voluntary. Using it is a leadership
opportunity for companies to demonstrate holistic
action and enhance disclosure on health and wellbeing impacts. Companies can apply the 16 COHBPs
if they find them material or a sub-set based on theprinciple of materiality.
Companies that adopt COH4B will be driven to doso as they see the benefits of the practices within
their own companies and their peers as well as bydemand from their stakeholders.

communications material, data/reporting/measures,guidance and tools, assurance, recognition/rewards,
and public-private partnerships.
The Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) is the firstmarket enabler for COH4B. The GRI Standards
are the world’s most widely used for reporting
sustainability impacts. GRI has mapped its Standards
and disclosures to COH4B to facilitate corporate
reporting on health and well-being.

11. Who should I contact for questions on
COH4B?
Please contact Deborah Bae, Senior Program Officer,
Robert Wood Johnson Foundation at dbae@rwjf.org

B. USING THE GRI STANDARDSWITH COH4B
12. Is COH4B a GRI Standard?

8. What do companies and other users need tostart?
Read the Executive Summary and Full Report onCOH4B to better understand the 16 COHBPs
and evidence supporting them. To use COH4B insustainability reporting, please refer to Section Bbelow.

9. Who can use the COH4B logo?
Any company that is reporting on the different
dimensions of health can use the COH4B logo. Clickhere to download the logo.

10. Who can serve as a market enabler toencourage widespread use of COH4B?
Based on stakeholder consultations, the COH4B
report identified a broad set of market enablers
that are necessary for the widespread use ofCOH4B. These market enablers are educational andCOH4B is not a GRI Standard. Like our work on
the Sustainable Development Goals and the Task
Force on Climate-Related Financial Disclosures, GRI
has mapped the GRI Standards and disclosures toCOH4B. This provides companies with objective,
globally applicable metrics to report holisticallyon their health and well-being impacts across ESG
issues.

13. Which GRI Standards apply to COH4B?
GRI has several standards that can help companies
understand and disclose their impacts on health andwell-being. By linking the GRI Standards to COH4B,
companies can identify business practices that
impact health and well-being and integrate healthrelated disclosures into their business strategies anddecision-making.
As of June 2020, there are 18 GRI Standards thatare relevant for COH4B. Please see “Linking the GRI
Standards and the Culture of Health for Business(COH4B) Framework” for further information.

14. Will GRI create new standards to support
COH4B?
GRI follows a due diligence process to develop
new standards and ensure their independenceand credibility. Please see here for details on GRI’s
process for development of standards. COH4B
would be an input that GRI can consider in future
updates to standards or development of newstandards.

15. How does COH4B incorporate materiality?
Companies are encouraged to incorporate COH4B
into their materiality assessment (s) or use those
assessments to select which COH4B practices toreport on. Please see “Linking the GRI Standards
and the Culture of Health for Business (COH4B)
Framework” for further information.

16. How should companies determine the global
versus local relevance of COH4B?
Companies can consider the GRI reporting principleof Sustainability Context to determine the relevanceof a COHBP to their global or local operations.
Please refer to GRI 101: Foundation 2016. Also see“Linking the GRI Standards and the Culture of Healthfor Business (COH4B) Framework” for further
information.

17. How should companies report on COH4B
using the GRI Standards?
GRI has prepared two documents to help companies
apply COH4B in sustainability reporting. Pleasesee “Fact Sheet: Using the GRI Standards with theCulture of Health for Business Framework” and“Linking the GRI Standards and the Culture of Healthfor Business (COH4B) Framework” for further
information.
Please note, an organization reporting on COH4B
using the GRI Standards presented in these two

documents is not necessarily able to claim it has
prepared a report in accordance with the GRIStandards. To do so, the reporting organization mustmeet all criteria to make such a claim, as described in
GRI 101: Foundation 2016.

18. Are companies being asked to develop aseparate COH4B Report?
No, companies can incorporate COH4B into existing
reports in both the qualitative and quantitative
sections of their sustainability reports. They can also
identify COH4B practices they are implementing intheir GRI context index.

19. Who should I contact for questions on
applying the GRI Standards to COH4B?
Please write to GRI Standards for technical questions
at standards@globalreporting.org andinfo@globalreporting.org for other questions orsupport.