HR METRICS - Why we should be measuring people data
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What are HR metrics?
HR Metrics are operational measures that help your businesses track your human capital and measure what’s working well, what needs improvement and what trends to expect in the future.
Examples of such data include:
Headcount
Workforce demographics
Total employee turnover
Voluntary employee turnover
Retention rate
Time to hire
Cost per-hire
Benefits usage/participation
Performance management participation
Employee satisfaction/engagement
Absenteeism
Training costs per employee
Training completion rates
Why HR metrics matter
Measuring your HR data will help you better understand your team and make informed strategic decisions about your business, taking the guess work out of your HR initiatives.
HR metrics in action
Let’s drill down into one HR metric – Absenteeism.
Absenteeism can be measured in a number of ways including by person or by team. To calculate absenteeism, add up all of an employee/team's missed workdays and divide that number by the total workdays scheduled.
Absenteeism = workdays missed ÷ total workdays scheduled
For example, when an employee is absent five (5) of nineteen (19) works shifts, their absenteeism would be:
5 ÷ 19 = 0.26
= 26%
Some businesses use absenteeism as a measure of employee health and wellness as it’s common knowledge that unhappy employees or those with health or home life issues take more time off.
High individual absenteeism may indicate internal or external issues such a home life issue, health issues, carer responsibilities, bullying and harassment, burnout, stress, disengagement or job hunting.
High team absenteeism may indicate internal issues such as disengagement, ineffective management styles, bullying and harassment, burnout, under resourcing,
When you proactively measure absenteeism in your business you will be able to identify absenteeism trends and deal with them early. Perhaps you need to speak with the individual with high absenteeism and find out if something is going on outside of work? Or maybe you need to review a particular team and try and identify the root cause of their high absenteeism rates? Is it an issue with the manager of that team or something else?