What Are Some HR Metrics Best Practices?
What is one best practice for HR metrics?
To help you make the best of any data collected with HR, we asked C-suite executives and other HR leaders this question for their best recommendations. From timely data collection to keeping your focus on the big picture, there are several tips that may help you maximize the insight gained from your HR metrics.
Here are seven best practices to use when you review HR metrics:
- Collect Your Data in a Timely Manner
- Align HR Metrics to Business Priorities
- Place Value in Employee Engagement
- Generate Only Useful Data for Each Audience
- Gain Insight From Employee Billable Hours
- Focus on Year-Over-Year Instead of Month-Over-Month
- Look at Your Join Ratio
Collect Your Data in a Timely Manner
Timely data collection is important when measuring HR metrics that are important for gauging employee satisfaction. Gathering data after the fact does not provide any meaningful insight into employee attitudes about their work or the organization. Gathering data in a timely fashion allows organizations to take action and make improvements. The best practice is to use a system like an employee feedback app to gather data in real-time. This allows you to ask employees how they feel about their work, their supervisors, and the company as a whole. Then, use the data to improve your organization and its culture. The data can develop a positive employee experience, which can lead to increased employee engagement and productivity.
Matthew Ramirez, CEO, Rephrasely
Align HR Metrics to Business Priorities
I’ve learned the most effective single best practice to deploy is to ask yourself and your peer executive team this question: how many of our existing HR metrics directly align with business outcomes and priorities? Lead a discussion, drive alignment, and consistently measure and report HR metrics that business leaders easily understand. This practice will enable you to have thoughtful conversations about the impact and business outcomes.
Melissa Bruno, Chief People Officer, Mb Consulting
Place Value in Employee Engagement
Employee engagement is a key metric for HR because it measures how committed and connected employees are to their work and company. When employees are engaged, they are more likely to be productive and stay with the company for the long term.
There are several ways to measure employee engagement, but one standard method is to survey employees about their job satisfaction and commitment to the company. Another way to measure engagement is to track employee retention rates.
Overall, employee engagement is a key metric that HR professionals should focus on to gauge their department’s and employees’ effectiveness. By measuring employee engagement, companies can ensure that they satisfy their employees. Employees that are happy with their jobs are more likely to be productive and stay with the company.
Hilary Kozak, VP of Marketing, LivSmooth
Generate Only Useful Data for Each Audience
Over the years, as an HR practitioner, I have noticed how easy it is for HR departments to generate data just for the sake of it without considering the specific audience for this data. The truth is some metrics, and the resulting data will apply to some audiences and not others.
Developing metrics for the wrong people is not only a waste of time and resources; you will simply not attain key departmental and organizational goals and objectives. Be sure that the metrics you develop are useful and align with the overarching goals, mission, and vision. It pays to AB test and evaluate your metrics before implementing them to test their relevance in the overall scheme of your business goals.
That said, it is important that the HR department understands the difference between metrics and analytics—ideally, measure first and then analyze the results. The two variables are neither the same nor mutually exclusive, but they complement each other.
Ben Lamarche, General Manager, Lock Search Group
Gain Insight From Employee Billable Hours
HR metrics serve the role of helping companies make informed decisions by illustrating what’s working well, what needs fine-tuning, and what trends to expect in the future.
Measuring the billable hours per employee provides earning insights that need to be fulfilled. Tracking this information enables HR professionals to determine the revenue an employee makes for the company and how much they are being paid.
It helps the company to compensate the staff accordingly and avoid any bias. This metric ensures that the staff are well compensated and motivated enough by the show of goodwill by the company.
Yongming Song, CEO, Live Polls
Focus on Year-Over-Year Instead of Month-Over-Month
When viewing and comparing HR metrics, it is important to look at these numbers YoY. This will show you how your company is progressing over multiple years.
This is the best way to look at HR metrics and compare them to make future decisions for your business. Avoid looking at MoM metrics as these will differ depending on the month.
YoY will give you the best comparison to make the most informed decisions and evaluate your success.
Scott Krager, Founder, TubeSplit
Look at Your Join Ratio
According to a recent PwC survey, nearly half of all job candidates rejected their job offers, especially in high-demand industries.
This increase in candidate drop-out rates raises the time-to-hire. This forces recruiters and hiring managers to re-initiate the entire process from the beginning. The primary reason behind the increase in the no-show-up rate of candidates is the delay in the recruitment process.
By the time companies get around to sharing an offer letter with a candidate, they’ve moved on. Other contributing factors include a lack of clarity on job roles, lower compensation than expected, concerns with workplace culture, and an inability to provide digital experiences during the hiring process.
Companies can overcome this by streamlining their hiring methods and incorporating AI into their HR tech architectures.
Praba Murugaiah, Head of US Operations, iMocha
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