The role of the human resources in any company should not be underestimated, because this is exactly what business performance rests on. It does not really matter how unique, effective and advanced the company’s technologies are, since it is people who bear responsibility for its productivity. That is why it seems highly important to provide them with improved learning and training opportunities. However, how can you know what exactly needs to be enhanced? The answer to the suggested question is the following: the Balanced Scorecard system is what you really require to make a quality evaluation of HR performance and draw corresponding conclusions. This tool can effectively help achieve all your business goals in a consistent and systematic way due to the metrics and indicators it utilizes.
So, what is the best way to apply the Balanced Scorecard system to human resources? To start with, you should define what HR metrics exactly you plan to implement and what measures you are going to undertake if you realize that something needs to be improved here. For example, if you focus on the reduction of turnover costs, you should think over the development of efficient recruiting techniques and new- hire orientation ways that will enable you to optimize the level of workforce retention. What measures will you have to undertake to cope with these tasks then? You will definitely need to identify the basic features of productive employees who work in your company for over two years and apply different methods of screening new applications more precisely. In addition, you will have to integrate the so-called “”branding effort” into the process of recruitment and improve the orientation program for better retention of new employees. The next step will be to decide how many HR metrics you are going to establish. When it comes to the reduction of turnover costs, the following measures will be the most effective: cost-per-hire, time-to-fill, turnover rates and costs, customer satisfaction with new-hire process, supervisor satisfaction with orientation etc. As you see, there is much work to be done before you decide what human resource metrics you will establish. So, you need to have enough patience and dedication to make it a success.
Apart from this, the HR BSC should obligatory involve the following efficient elements: accountability, measurable results and validity. In other words, any HR metric should be understandable and have a connection with business objectives. Only in this case, the HR BSC system will prove to be really meaningful.