HR Open Standards is the non-profit body publishing free, vendor-neutral data-exchange specifications for human resources — recruiting, assessments, payroll, benefits enrolment, time and labour, and employee records. Formerly HR-XML, it is the longest-running attempt to standardise the HR data layer and remains one of the least adopted standards relative to the size of the market it serves.
HR Open Standards
HR Open Standards is the non-profit body publishing free, vendor-neutral data-exchange specifications for human resources — recruiting, assessments, payroll, benefits enrolment, time and labour, and employee records. Formerly HR-XML, it is the longest-running attempt to standardise the HR data layer, and it remains one of the least adopted standards relative to the size of the market it serves.
- Free and vendor-neutral - The specifications are published without charge, which removes the usual excuse for non-adoption.
- Broad functional coverage - Few HR domains are unspecified; the gap is uptake, not scope.
- XML heritage, JSON present - The HR-XML lineage shows, and the modern releases have moved toward JSON schema.
- Adoption is the story - The HR software market is enormous and integrates almost entirely through bespoke vendor APIs.
HR Open is the standard I point to when someone argues that publishing a free specification is sufficient. It has been free for two decades. The market routed around it, because every HRIS vendor’s commercial interest lies in its own integration surface, and no regulator has ever required otherwise. Compare that to ISO 30414, where disclosure rules did the work adoption could not.
Industry: HR
