Cheese was speaking at the VyT research launch at the Royal Society of Arts in London on Thursday. The aim of the VyT initiative is to to develop a framework to help organisations measure and manage human capital. It was originally intended to launch in July, but this has been pushed back to December.
Cheese urged the Department for Business, Innovation & Skills to stand "full-square behind" the human capital measurement framework.
"While we all absolutely believe that this is the right time [to launch VyT], the questions are how to get it out and how to promote it," he said. "We've tried various techniques, including using social media. Ultimately we need to get more advocacy, including political advocacy.
"Will this end up as legislation? I think ultimately some of these things fundamentally should. It's going to take some time to get them through and we don't see it as our ultimate goal. That would be creating a common language between HR and finance and building momentum for this project."
Speaking at the same event, McDonald's chief people officer of Europe David Fairhurst praised the programme and stressed that shifting demands on employers made its launch timely.
"Customers are getting more demanding and the labour market is getting tighter, so every employer is facing significant challenges," he said.
"Research suggests the majority of business leaders don't have the metrics they need to measure the value of their talent effectively. That's why elements of the framework are so important."
