Top 10 Best HR and People Management KPIs
20 September 2021
Do you know whether your employees feel supported by their boss?
Is your company attractive to new talent?
There are some important employee and HR KPIs that every company should be measuring to help them keep a happy, engaged workforce that leads to higher productivity and increased profits.
My top 10 recommended employee KPIs fall into four overall categories:
Are Your Employees Happy at Work?
- eNPS (Employee Net Promoter Score)
Typically, the NPS (net promoter score) is a metric you can use to track customer satisfaction. You can ask customers to rate (on a scale of 1 to 10) how likely they would be to recommend your product or service to a friend, family member, or colleague.
Turns out, asking your employees a similar question can yield valuable insights, too. With the eNPS, you can ask employees one question: “How likely would you be to refer a friend or contact to work for us?”
Employees rate their likelihood from 0-10 (0 being not at all likely, ten being extremely likely) that they would recommend the company to a friend or relative. Their answers give you a good indicator of overall staff engagement and loyalty.
- Churn Rate
There is a natural churn rate in your organization, but if you are consistently losing key people with high potential, that can indicate a problem. Keep an eye on your overall churn rate, but dig deeper into your stats and measure your “regretted churn.” That’s the amount of people who have left your company that you really did not want to lose.
- Absenteeism
Consistent absenteeism can indicate unhappy employees, so monitoring how much time your staff takes off is important.
One of the best ways to spot problematic absences is by using the Bradford Factor. This formula translates absence patterns into straightforward scores that are easy to interpret. The Bradford Factor applies a different weighting to repeat short-term absences (picture an employee who calls in sick every Friday for six weeks) than it does to longer-term absences (like a one or two-week vacation). Short-term absences can potentially have a greater negative effect on your company, so it’s a KPI to watch closely.
Do Your Employees Feel Supported?
- 360° Reviews
Feedback in 360° reviews is starting to replace typical top-down assessments as a way to measure employee performance. Rather than just getting your manager’s perspective on how you are performing, these comprehensive reviews give you feedback from other stakeholders, like your direct reports, colleagues, customers, or suppliers.
- Succession Planning
Do you have a succession plan in place for every job in your organization?
Training people to move into other roles is an important way to help your employees feel supported and ensure they’re making progress in your organization. All your employees should be in a succession planning funnel somewhere in your company.
- Skills Gap
Identify the top skills your company needs in the future, and compare that list to the skills you currently have (and at what level). Where are the gaps? Try to narrow the talent gaps whenever possible.
How Well Are Your Employees Contributing?
- Human Capital Value Added (HVCA)
Human Capital Value Added (HCVA) is a measure of the extent to which employees add value to the business.
Here’s an equation you can use to track HVCA:
HCVA = Revenue - (Total Costs - Employment Cost) / Full Time Employees
- Employee Productivity
This 9-box grid is a talent assessment tool you can use to track employee performance against potential.
Measuring employee productivity with a tool like this can help with succession planning, figuring out where you want to invest in training, and identifying future leaders. It can also be useful when navigating salaries and bonuses within your organization.
Is Your Organization Enticing to Talent?
- Employer Brand Assessment
A strong employer brand can help you attract and retain talent, as it reflects how your employees feel about working for your company. Just as you would monitor your regular brand so you attract the customers you want, you should be working on building a great employer brand, too. Sites like Glassdoor can give you insight into your company’s reputation as an employer, and you can also track the number of CVs and employee referrals you receive for open positions within your company.
- Social Media Positioning
I also recommend companies monitor mentions of their company on social media channels to understand how people feel about you as an employer. Tread carefully with this tactic, though – no one likes to feel like their employer (past or present) is spying on what they’re saying online. It’s good practice to anonymize data so you aren’t linking specific comments to individual employees.
Related Articles
How Can We Use AI to Address Global Challenges Like Climate Change?
As climate change continues to pose an enormous threat to our planet, we must explore innovative solutions that can help mitigate its impact.[...]
6 Roadblocks Stopping Web3 And The Metaverse Becoming A Reality
With the emergence of the metaverse and web3 technologies, it’s clear that the next evolution of the internet is already underway.[...]
Sign up to Stay in Touch!
Bernard Marr is a world-renowned futurist, influencer and thought leader in the fields of business and technology, with a passion for using technology for the good of humanity.
He is a best-selling author of over 20 books, writes a regular column for Forbes and advises and coaches many of the world’s best-known organisations.
He has a combined following of 4 million people across his social media channels and newsletters and was ranked by LinkedIn as one of the top 5 business influencers in the world.
Bernard’s latest book is ‘Generative AI in Practice’.
Social Media