Skip links

Why you need HR Analytics & Metrics for Corporate Results.

hrleverage-analytics

We at @HRLeverage recently had a survey on HR functions and from the feedback we discovered that the Idea of HR being a strategic Partner to a wider organization isn’t new, but the knowledge of using simple HR data, metrics and analytics to achieve the objective is a trend that most HR Professionals haven’t comprehended. Lou Adler in 2014 Talent Connect Conference organized by LinkedIn, noted that some organizations see recruitment cost as an Investment but wrongfully budget for it. To him, the ideal thing would be to insert recruitment expense in a justifiable capital appropriation request and expect return on its investment. The point here is the disparity between what organizations think they do and what they are unconsciously doing. HR professionals may increase salary just to engage and ensure job satisfaction, but unfortunately they aren’t measuring the impact of such actions.

You may perhaps agree with me that HR deliverables of recruitment, compensation, grievances management, employee engagement, benefit- compensation, training & development, performance management as well as separation among other HR functions would remain a mere supportive and cost centric practices if HR fails to quantify their doable and deliverables and create insights to guide decision making process in the organization.

Now can you imagine what will happen if we took even 20% of the time we spent in analyzing financial data only to analyze people data? Of course the result will aid us in forecasting performance of our workforce, hence productivity will ensue, and management and stakeholders will all smile to the bank!

HR Analytics is about the application of regular HR functions (like quantifying number of Hires and how?, number of Exits and why? )and measuring data gotten (Metrics) as an analytical facts and processing it to the human resource department with the intention of providing insight to effectively manage employees towards attaining the goals of the organization quickly.

According to Lord Kelvin, If you cannot measure it, you cannot improve it. Why then do we need to measure?

10 Reasons for HR Metrics

  1. To enhance HR credibility and prove HR value strategies to leaders in the organization.
  2. To Provides deep insight into workforce data
  3. To Identify areas of waste for effective resource management (time, effort, budget, etc..)
  4. To Track and manage individual and organizational performance with facts and Figours.
  5. To demonstrates the value of HR investments by showing the link between people and business strategies.
  6. To Help HR leaders make the right decisions about people and helps those HR leaders engage other organizational stakeholders in a decision process that collaboratively reaches the right decisions” Boudreau J.W and Jesuthasan R. (2011)
  7. To Apply quantitative and qualitative analysis to understand trends and indicators in simple human resource data; understand and apply various statistical analysis methods.
  8. To Respond to business in advance through predictive analytics for Human Resources.
  9. To Improve organizational performance through high quality talent related decisions
  10. To measure effectiveness and efficiency of the Organisation.

 WHO NEED THE SKILLS ON HR METRICS AND ANALYTIC

Simply put these are HR Professionals such LIKE:

  • HR Managers & Officers
  • HR Consultants
  • HR System Managers
  • Metrics Professionals & Specialists of Performance Management
  • HR Analysts
  • HR Advisors
  • HR Coordinators
  • Admin Managers & Officers

MOST FREQUENTLY USED METRICS – TRACKED THROUGH THE ORGANIZATION

  1. Average Staff  Hired per region.
  2. Average Employee Compensation
  3. Gender Staffing Breakdown
  4. Diversity ratio per region or department
  5. Internal/External Hire Ratio
  6. Staff turn Over Rate
  7. Performance Rating Distribution
  8. Average Merit Increase for Each Performance Rating
  9. Employee Engagement Level
  10. Health Plan Enrollment Rates
  11. Quality of Hire per
  12. Average Workforce Tenure
  13. Performance Appraisal Participation Rate
  14. Absenteeism rate
  15. Compensation Competitiveness Compared to External Market Benchmarks (gap to market)
  16. Internal Hire Rate
  17. Average Performance Appraisal Rating
  18. Retention Rate
  19. Termination Rate
  20. Employee Satisfaction with Training
  21. Leadership Gender Breakdown
  22. Benefits Expense per department
  23. Age Staffing Breakdown
  24. External Hire Rate
  25. Average Workforce Age

The above metrics isn’t anything but measurement, analyzing it is where the work is. Analyzing HR Data and activities to give insights that guide management in decision making is what HR Analytics tends to address. So is there any time to start measuring it? I think it is now!

For relevant ebooks and training on HR Metric kindly contact info@HRLeverageAfrica.com +2348022155626

Seyi Babatunde is Workforce and Staffing Expert from Africa.