Merry Christmas. Happy Hanukkah. Happy Kwanzaa, Happy Boxing Day. No matter what your faith, this is the time of year when many of us make New Year's resolutions. [Check out this list put out by the Fed if you're looking for some direction - h[ttp://www.usa.gov/Citizen/Topics/New_Years_Resolutions.shtml|http://www.usa.gov/Citizen/Topics/New_Years_Resolutions.shtml]] Whether it's ‘lose weight,' ‘take a trip,' ‘volunteer to help others,' or ‘pay off debt,' the individuals who make these promises will have realized varying degrees of success by the time they sit down 12 months from now to start on 2009's list. There are many reasons for this. One is that some individuals take the time to document these promises. By writing them, these individuals are more conscious of them, and thus, are more likely to develop them into goals, build a strategy to achieve these goals, and execute on that strategy.
Making New Year's resolutions and acting on them is not always easy for us as individuals. Doing so as a team can be even more difficult. We at Knowledge Infusion help our clients face this challenge every day. We work with HR executives to build strategic roadmaps that sequence technology initiatives based on business objectives. A common pitfall once the strategy is created is to forget these business objectives as the focus shifts to executing on project tasks.
That is why we encourage our clients to document the metrics the organization will use to measure the impact of their investments. These metrics should drive the development of reports and dashboards as technology is rolled out. If this sounds like HCM analytics or workforce intelligence for anyone who reads this it should. Workforce intelligence starts with identifying measures that tie key indicators of business performance to HCM practices and programs. Only after such measures have been identified can they be leveraged to make better management decisions. These metrics include:
Transactional Metrics: These measures quantify the activity in various HR functions. Examples include headcount, the number of hours trained, the number of performance reviews submitted, payroll, and active headcount. When taken in isolation, none of these figures is very strategic. However, many of them act as building blocks (i.e., variables used to calculate) for HR Operational Metrics and Workforce Effectiveness Metrics.
HR Operational Metrics: These are meant to monitor HR's performance in terms of process outcomes and employee satisfaction. Examples include time-to-hire, retention of high performers, and satisfaction with training programs.
Workforce Effectiveness Metrics: These tie Transactional and HR Operational information and metrics to other business performance indicators outside HR. As such, they yield the intelligence to support strategic decision making. Examples include the total cost of turnover, the effect of assigning key accounts to high performers on sales, the impact of a six-sigma certification program on operational efficiency, and the identification of managers adept at developing people.
After you've defined the metrics, consider when you will be able to deliver them, to whom they should be delivered, and in what format they should be served. By developing and delivering these metrics, you will keep the goals of the business and the value that HR provides front-of-mind for the appropriate constituencies. Consider this as you set out to make good on the resolution in 2008 that we should all be setting for ourselves as HR professionals - making our organizations a more rewarding place for people to work.
Be on the lookout for workforce intelligence innovations from Knowledge Infusion in 2008...