I love metrics! Yes, I said it and you heard it right! I remember in university having to take the dreaded pre-requisite courses, one of which was statistics. It was only years later when I was fully entrenched in my career that I realized its importance.
So why are metrics so important? Simply put, metrics allow us to collect richer and insightful data, providing us with predictive insights about our business and people. However, the challenge is often deciding what to measure and what to do with the data.
Regardless of your industry or size of business, HR metrics can be useful indicators on performance and growth. When working with my clients, an important first step is conducting a needs assessment. In order to discover pain points, we need to analyze the current state. It’s more often than not, that clients have not tracked any HR metrics, from recruitment to exits. Without these measures, we lack the reliability and validity of information including norms and variances in business and people practices.
To help you get started with metrics for your business, here are 5 key metrics you should be tracking to help measure and manage the people side of your business. No fancy or sophisticated HR software needed!
HR Metric #1: Turnover
Purpose: It measures the number of employees who leave an organization, either voluntarily or involuntarily, as a percentage of headcount. This metric helps to determine trends, variances and causes of exits.
Calculation: Divide total separations by the average number of employees and multiply the answer by 100 to convert to a percentage.
For more information on how to calculate turnover, check out our blog: https://upskillconsulting.ca/2019/06/10/employee-turnover/
HR Metric #2: 1st Year Resignation Rate
Purpose: It measures the percentage of employees who resign within their first year of employment. This metric can be indicative of gaps in your recruitment process and onboarding of new hires to name a few.
Calculation: Divide the number of first-year employees who left the organization by the number of first-year employees at the start of the measurement period and multiply by 100 to convert to a percentage.
HR Metric #3: Promotion Rate
Purpose: It measures the number of employees promoted as a percentage of headcount. This metric demonstrates the development and career advancement opportunities provided to employees. If numbers are low, this may require an evaluation of your career pathing and learning and development opportunities.
Calculation: Divide the total number of promotions in a fiscal year by the total number of employees.
HR Metric #4: Absenteeism Rate
Purpose: This metric helps to measure the overall health of your people and pinpoints workforce attendance issues. A high absenteeism rate can indicate a disengaged workforce or unrealistic workloads leading to increased stress. These may be predictive indicators of future turnover.
Calculation: Divide the number of days lost to absences by the number of workdays overall.
HR Metric #5: Time to Fill Rate
Purpose: This metric represents the time it takes to identify a candidate and fill an open position in an organization. This metric may indicate inefficiencies in your recruitment strategies, including workforce planning, job advertising and sourcing candidates.
Calculation: It’s simply the total number of days to fill an open position. If you want to calculate an average time to fill for all positions, you can add all the time to fill measures for all positions within a given period and divide it by the number of roles.
These 5 HR metrics will help you assess the health of your organization. It’s a great first step to leverage the value of numbers and build a data-driven HR. Don’t fear the numbers, embrace them!
Want more HR metrics? Check out this link: http://www.hrmetricsservice.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/HR-Metrics-Interpretation-Guide-v7.1.pdf
We’d love to hear from you! Contact us to learn more about our HR services and how we can support you in your HR needs. Visit: https://upskillconsulting.ca/contact/
Throughout Sofia's career she has engaged in various functions of HR, always with a mindset of translating business strategy into systematic HR initiatives. Her HR experience has involved overseeing day-to-day operations, developing HR strategies, leading organizational changes and partnering with leadership to drive and deliver on HR principles and business strategies.
Her specialization in HR includes training and capability development, performance management, employee engagement, change management and organizational development.
Sofia has a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Psychology from Simon Fraser University,a Post-Baccalaureate Diploma in Human Resources Management from Kwantlen Polytechnic University and holds her Chartered Professional in Human Resources (CPHR) designation.
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