Posts Tagged ‘metrics’

The Helping Hand of HR KPI in a Company

Wednesday, December 12th, 2007

Having HR KPI can assist any company in ensuring the productivity of its workforce. The indicators would show the management areas that need improvement, so that it can act accordingly.

The concept of HR KPI, or human resource key performance indicators, is not something new. The popularity of such can be attributed to the fact that taking note of key performance indicators is indeed very important in ensuring the overall success of any company. Regardless of size or tenure, key performance indicators are indeed needed.

What exactly are these key performance indicators? Let us place ourselves in the shoes of the employee first, so that we could have a better perspective of the concept. Now, a typical 8-hour job would give you particular demands and requirements to meet. At first, especially during the first few months at the job, meeting such demands and requirements would be fun enough for any employee.

But over time, the tasks and responsibilities entailed with the job could very well become tedious. With such tedium comes the possibility of your performance at the job dwindling as well. And if this tedium is not noticed or perceived early on, you just might be doing your company more harm than good. Without the presence of key performance indicators, you would definitely be doing your company more harm in the long run.

Key performance indicators basically focus on the performance of a certain company’s employees. Just to name a few, these indicators would include the employees’ initiative, teamwork, productivity, quality of work, job satisfaction, and many more. Measuring these aspects can help any company, particularly the management, gauge the company and how it is doing, as a whole. By examining, let’s say, the productivity indicator of the company, the management can then perceive for themselves how efficient the workforce is in this area.

But what the management is really after when employing these key performance indicators is determining which areas the company needs improving on. For instance, the indicators would show that a significant number of employees are not satisfied with their jobs and positions. This may be due to the inevitable tedium any employee would feel over time. Thus, the management can act accordingly and implement the appropriate changes to encourage the employees to perform better.

Encouragement would be the key concept here, so that the employees would once again feel that zest they once had when performing their tasks and responsibilities. If you look at human resource key performance indicators from this perspective, then it would totally make sense to have these implemented in any company or organization today. With these indicators, the management would be able to make more insightful and educated decisions pertaining to their workforce.

Other than that, HR KPI can also show the employees themselves their quantitative worth in the company. Aside from such measurements being encouraging, especially if the employee gets high marks, the indicators can also act as motivation. If you see that you need improvement on a certain task entailed in your job, wouldn’t you want to be informed? Being informed would mean that the management trusts that you have appreciation for constructive criticism, and that you have it in you to act accordingly and professionally. Thus, these indicators also promote both career and personal growth.

The Importance of Measuring HR Performance

Wednesday, December 5th, 2007

HR performance is an aspect to be measured in ensuring the success of a company’s overall operations. Certain elements have to be considered when measuring this.

Measuring the productivity and performance of each and every department is necessary. There have been procedures developed and recommended in measuring these aspects when it comes to the effectiveness of a company’s management team. Such procedures have also been developed to measure the same when it comes to a company’s workforce.

But have you heard of such a system being used to measure HR performance? Yes, there is indeed such a need to measure this. Thus, there have also been procedures developed for this purpose.

First of all, it is important to recognize the fact that the HR department is very vital in the existence and overall success of a company. This is because this is the department that handles the hiring of the company’s premier assets: its workforce. Thus, it would make sense to measure the performance of this department in this aspect.

And this is just one of the many responsibilities the HR department carries out, you know. Thus, it would make further sense to have some sort of system set up to evaluate HR performance as a whole.

Now, there are certain elements, or what is known as indicators, that should be used in evaluating HR performance. The first of these would be, as expected, workforce productivity. It is important to take note here that productivity for one company can be completely different from that of another company. This is simply because companies have different goals, objectives, and purposes.

Still, there would be established measures that are common amongst companies. If workforce productivity is going strong, then it’s safe to say that HR performance is productive in this aspect.

Employee engagement is another aspect to keep in mind here. This pertains to the work relations between the employees themselves and the management. If this aspect scores high, then this would mean that the employees value their jobs. Just like workforce productivity, HR performance would score high if employees are satisfied with the jobs that they keep.

One way to know this is to hold surveys, so that the employees can express whatever thoughts they have about their jobs. You best look for answers wherein employees would say that they wake up and find themselves looking forward to another day at work.

Recruitment is also an aspect as well. If you think about it, recruitment is the most important job responsibility any HR department has. To check if HR performance is strong in this aspect, then the average performance appraisal scores of the employees should be monitored. If a company is consistently promoting its employees to higher positions and better opportunities, then HR performance is at an all-time high.

The last concept is employee retention. Turnover is something that no company wants to experience. However, this is quite inevitable in any company because there will always be better opportunities coming by for any employee in the workforce. There are also times when the company itself would decide against retaining some employees, especially the unproductive ones.

This is something any HR department wants to avoid. Thus, it is important for the HR department to hire only the productive ones as much as possible. If the retention rate in a company is high, then HR performance is also positive in this aspect.