A useful metric has three properties: it is defined the same way every time it is measured, it comes from a system of record rather than a survey of managers, and someone owns the decision it informs. Absence rate, for example, only means something if planned and unplanned absence are recorded separately and consistently.
The watch-out is collecting metrics nobody acts on. A dashboard of forty numbers that informs no decision is reporting theatre, and it usually signals that the underlying records are too scattered to trust. Start from the decisions, pick the few numbers that inform them, and fix the record-keeping for those first.
Common questions
What do HR Metrics mean in simple terms?+
HR metrics are the standard numbers organisations use to track their workforce: turnover and retention rates, absence rate, average tenure, engagement scores, headcount against plan, and in hybrid workplaces, attendance patterns against policy. They are the raw material of people analytics.
What makes an HR Metric useful?+
A useful metric has three properties: it is defined the same way every time it is measured, it comes from a system of record rather than a survey of managers, and someone owns the decision it informs. Absence rate, for example, only means something if planned and unplanned absence are recorded separately and consistently.
What goes wrong with HR Metrics?+
The watch-out is collecting metrics nobody acts on. A dashboard of forty numbers that informs no decision is reporting theatre, and it usually signals that the underlying records are too scattered to trust. Start from the decisions, pick the few numbers that inform them, and fix the record-keeping for those first.