You already know we live in a tech-driven world—which means you probably also know the importance of data across a variety of job functions. Many teams, like HR and talent acquisition teams, will set and measure metrics, even seemingly qualitative results that you might not associate with numbers. These metrics can help guide strategy or explain performance to leaders.
Keep reading to learn about some of the most important HR metrics you should be considering.
Why Track HR Metrics?
It may seem strange to track HR metrics in a position focused on people. But when it comes to recruiting, you can’t ignore the numbers. Like other teams, many HR teams use KPIs—or key performance indicators. KPIs are simply metrics to measure performance. Knowing which KPIs are most important will be determined by an organization’s goals, but many times, the HR metrics that matter are fairly universal.
HR Metrics That Matter
All data is valuable, but if you don’t know what to look for, it can be overwhelming. Setting clear goals and knowing which metrics measure those goals are important steps in understanding what the data is telling you, and how effective your efforts are.
There are a variety of HR metrics that matter and can help you track the effectiveness of your recruitment strategy and processes.
Time To Fill Metrics
In the case of the time-to-fill metrics (also sometimes called time-to-hire), the lower the number, the better. This HR metric is straightforward: it is simply the number of days between when the job is listed to when a candidate accepts an offer. You can measure the time-to-fill metrics for individual job postings or for the company or a department’s average time-to-fill over a certain period of time.
The time-to-fill metric matters because it provides insight into how efficient your hiring process is. If you find your time-to-fill is longer than average (generally about 36 days, though can be industry-specific), it may be a sign that your job listings aren’t effective enough or you’re not screening candidates quickly enough.
Cost-Per-Hire (CPH)
Like the time-to-fill metric, the cost-per-hire can be measured individually or as an average. CPH is an important HR metric because if your CPH is increasing, you’ll know that something in your recruitment process is not as efficient as it should be.
At its simplest, the CPH is measured by adding internal and external recruiting costs and dividing by the total number of hires. So, for an individual hire, you’d be dividing by one. What goes into your costs can be determined by you and your team. Some examples include factors like job advertising costs and software subscriptions.
Quality Of Hire Metric
While quality of hire can be a difficult HR metric to measure, it’s an important one to consider. After all, it’s no use having a strong time-to-fill metric if the candidate isn’t qualified or the right fit. While you can measure quality of hire for individual employees, it’s a particularly useful HR metric to measure as an index over time. That way, you can take a holistic view of how your hiring process is improving over time—or what areas might need improvement.
Learn more about the quality of hire metric and how AI software can help you increase your score.
Qualified Candidates Per Opening
You can consider a candidate qualified if you move them beyond the first stage. Understanding how many of these candidates you have per each job opening can tell the story of your sourcing efforts. If you find this metric to be lowered than where you want, it may be time to adjust your sourcing strategy or adopt new tools to improve your efforts in finding qualified candidates.
Application Completion Rates
This straightforward HR metric can tell you how strong your job listing is and if it’s getting in front of the right people. The application completion rate metrics also matters because it can speak to your candidate experience—if candidates are dropping off at the application, it may be a sign that they’re having a poor experience. This can be a sign that you may need to update portions of the application or revamp the experience entirely.
Hiring Manager Satisfaction
This can be determined by a survey following the hiring process. It’s important to build strong relationships and trust with hiring managers, and understanding how satisfied they are with the process can be a key component to doing so. This can allow you to work together on improving the recruiting and hiring process as a whole.
New Hire Turnover
This HR metric is based on the time frame of your choice and can help measure a new hire’s fit or the overall experience for new hires. This is critical being that replacing new hires can be a costly and time-consuming experience. If new hire turnover is too high, it may indicate your onboarding processes need refining or that additional training resources are needed.
Offer Acceptance Rate
This HR metric is measured by dividing the total number of offers by the number accepted. This metric matters because it can uncover hitches in bottom-funnel processes. Find that you’re not closing out with candidates too often, and it may be time to rethink your strategy.
How To Track The HR Metrics That Matter
While you can track and manage HR metrics manually, doing so can quickly become an unwieldy and time-consuming task. The best way to track important KPIs, like the time-to-fill metrics, is by using recruitment software.
A robust solution will help you not only collect relevant data but also analyze it. PandoLogic can help companies understand the big data they want to track during all steps of the hiring process. Plus, with real-time results, HR professionals can make real-time decisions—such as adjusting the budget or changing campaign strategy. pandoIQ, PandoLogic’s programmatic job advertising platform, is the only programmatic platform that continuously reviews and optimizes job ad performance throughout the campaign to ensure you meet your hiring needs.
If you’re not already tracking the HR metrics that matter, now’s the time to start. Then you’ll have helpful benchmarks to compare against in the future.
