CEOs and the rest of the executive team want human capital management teams to deliver tangible results that demonstrate business impact: Hard facts and figures, not feelings or beliefs. To deliver this value, HCM and HR professionals must better understand the overall business and pick key metrics to help executives make informed decisions about workforce planning. Many CEOs fear that HR leaders are mired in processes and compliance, but the way forward is stepping outside of just HR and taking a holistic look at the entire business. Here are four numbers your C-suite wants to see:
1. Turnover (number of leavers/total population in the organization)
Executives care about turnover because it’s costly. According to SHRM, every time a business replaces a salaried employee, it costs 6 to 9 months’ salary on average. For a manager making $40,000 a year, that’s $20,000 to $30,000 in recruiting and training expenses.
Turnover rates are pretty cut and dry, but there is powerful information you can gather when analyzing data and KPIs across your organization. Breaking turnover down by location, manager and department can give you a greater understanding of what’s working, as well as areas that might need additional support. If a manager experiences little to no turnover, find out what he or she is doing to create a great experience for their employees. These insights will enable you to better train future managers and counsel lower performing ones.
2. Absenteeism Rate
Your executives care about absenteeism because it has an impact on overall productivity. Highly motivated and engaged employees are less likely to take sick days or unexplained absences. They’re passionate about coming to work every day and take tremendous pride in their work – this level of engagement translates to more productivity for the entire organization. As with turnover, drilling down into which departments or locations have excessive absenteeism could help pinpoint management problems that should be addressed.
3. New Hire 90-Day Failure Rate
Employee turnover that takes place within the first 90 days of employment could occur for many reasons: From a failed drug screen to excessive absenteeism to the employee not being a good cultural fit for the company. No matter what the reason, frequent new hire turnover can be the result of a larger problem and it will have an unfortunate impact on your organization if you don’t figure out how to control it.
One way to mitigate the 90-day failure rate is to place a strong emphasis on your onboarding process. Your new employees’ first days on the job shouldn’t be focused on completing hours of paperwork and waiting for a laptop from IT. An Aberdeen survey showed that 83% of the highest performing organizations began onboarding staff prior to the new hire’s first day on the job. If you’re waiting until they step through the door to start onboarding, you’re running the risk of another 90-day failure.
4. Quality of Hire
Measuring the quality of your hires can be pretty subjective. But, you can look at certain numbers that will provide some insight into whether or not your new employees are a good match for your company:
- Turnover and retention rates
- Cultural fit
- Ramp-up time to productivity
- Total productivity level of the new employee (e.g., revenue rates or number of goals achieved)
- Error rates
- Overall employee engagement levels
- Performance reviews
- Survey results from:
- The new employee’s manager
- The new employee
- The new employee’s team
Data is a critical piece to gaining buy-in from your executive team. For more action plans and inspiration on how to engage your people and increase retention across your organization, visit our HR Center of Excellence People Management Hub.