As we spend insurmountable seconds, minutes, hours, and nights interacting as influencers and navigators to our C-level partners on the front lines of talent attraction, engagement, and optimization, you’d think asking an operator eloquently, “what is most important to our enterprise as it relates to talent?” would be the clincher, right? Well, as it turns out, not exactly the case. That’s the opening of a Pandora’s Box.
As we negotiate and fight the war on talent, what key metrics make a difference? I’m not going to spend a lot of time on production and time (because let’s be honest, if that’s the response to the above question, let’s chat one on one … there’s a fire brewing!) But seriously, I’d like to share key differentiators I’ve seen, regardless of a company’s size or scope, that when executed against correctly not only influence senior leadership but impact the bottom line in short order.
- Labor Correlations: Metrics that show an immediate impact to labor dollars are gold. Whether it be overtime dollars, agency dollars, temp labor, etc., being able to show an executive partner your correlation to decreasing labor costs … now you’re a revenue driver.
- Service Excellence/Quality: Create a clear line to the immediate feedback and connectivity value of your customer base, whether that be your candidate, your hiring manager team, or your vendor partners.
- Time: I did say I wouldn’t talk time. But I lied … pieces of time are very important. I’m a huge fan of “time to find,” measuring your success in sourcing talent. “Time to decide (a hiring manager metric),” and further “time to onboard” join the list for me. As you look at these metrics, you’re more measuring the success and efficiency of a team owning a piece of the hiring process than the time itself. Note: Market demographics can impact some of these numbers.
- Conversion: I love to hear a recruiter say, “What’s your batting average?” It means to me they are tightening up the talent profile. Looking at the overall funnel including interview-to-hire ratios assists in further understanding where the gaps are. Good executive teams will ask these questions.
- Brand/Retention: We know “brand” has many sides — customer, employee, employer, etc. While all are important, I speak to brand here in a connection to retaining top talent. Developing metrics that track the lifecycle of an employee from attraction, to employment, through the annual review process, and ultimately through their exit, will tell you a story … taking a deeper dive there is an entirely different blog.
While the above speaks to the “what,” the “how” is just as important. You can have the best human capital metrics roadmap in the world, but if you don’t use that arsenal wisely, it becomes just an expensive toy sitting on your desktop. Core competencies will drive the bus.
So, what do you think? What metrics are at the top of the list for you as a talent leader? Your insights and feedback are valued and welcomed.
And as we continue to dialogue as a community around these such topics re: the “how” and “what” I’d love for you to join Tony Blake and I as we explore this same connection in San Diego this year on April 18, in our interactive workshop.
