S. Kathryn Jiménez Boyd Sep 7, 2020:

@Sonia I've done several of these non-financial information statements (GRI) and it's not the first time I've seen it put this way (on other kinds of reports, too). They like this kind of Baroque, redundant Spanish language for some reason. The explanation is that a multinational corporation is usually made up of a parent company that has many "sub-companies", let's call them. They can be subsidiaries or not, it depends, but often they're grouped for reporting purposes. These can consist of holding companies, limited companies (SLs, LLCs, LCs, depends on the country), incorporated companies, and basically every type of company in between. Some of these will have employees and some will not. That's why they specify that the figures on the table only refer to the companies within the corporation that have employees. I hope that provides some clarity. Good luck!

Sonia Maria (asker) Sep 7, 2020:

This document is a non financial information statement which deals with several issues of a company (corporación). The chapter about work has several sections and one of them is about "quality employment":

En 2019 el empleo total generado por XXX alcanzó los 5.321 colaboradores, un 8,30% más respecto al 2018. El número de mujeres en 2019 ascendió a 3.737 (un 8,10% más que en 2018), representando el 70% de la plantilla total de la compañía.
Then, there is a chart about the distribution of the employment by countries and gender which compares the number of employees (men / women) in 2018 and 2019 in several countries (Spain, Brazil, Italy...).
The footnote I asked you about refers to the total number of employees in 2019 and 2018.
I hope this helps because I do not really know how to understand it and I also think that it is kind of weird.

AllegroTrans Sep 7, 2020:

A thought... Companies have directors and officers at one level and (salaried) employess at another. Perhaps this refers simply to those with employees. Some companies (e.g. holding companies, incorporated trusts) don't have employees.

Toni Castano Sep 7, 2020:

@Kathryn Yes, you´re right, not all companies are public limited compamies (anónimas), so you may be right. We simply don´t know what kind of companies are really meant here.

S. Kathryn Jiménez Boyd Sep 7, 2020:

SL/SLU Hi Toni, not all companies have a minimum staff. Las sociedades limitadas (SL) pueden ser de administrador único e incluso si tienen más de un administrador, no están obligadas a tener trabajadores. Y claro hay también la SLU (sociedad limitada unipersonal), que tampoco tiene que tener empleados. Por eso creo que la frase tiene un sentido bastante claro.

Toni Castano Sep 7, 2020:

Strange wording I really can´t understand the expression "tuvieron dotación de personal", I mean, the literal meaning is straighforward, isn´t it? After all, companies (public limited companies in this case) are all supposed to need and have at least a minimum staff. So what is behind this weird phrase? Sonia María, is that all the context available?