Too busy to measure?

If you are aligned with any of the responses above, we’d suggest that addressing some of these interrelated measurements should fundamentally change your outlook and break the cycle. The first area of focus is easy. If you are part of the 24% of respondents that don’t measure, start today. Research has shown that measuring alone improves performance. To reference what you should start measuring, visit our website or contact us.

The next three measures are all interrelated and, when measured properly, should help your organization both day-to-day and long term. If you are part of the 59% of respondents that measure time to fill (or even time to start), you are setting yourself up for failure. Both of those measures perpetuate the behavior that the shortest time frame to get someone hired is preferred without consideration of the following: when hires are actually needed to start, the cost implication of hiring as fast as possible, the quality implication of hiring as fast as possible, all requisitions are not created equally. This measure also does not take into account any responsibility from the hiring manager for the hiring process. All in all measuring this forces your team to focus on the wrong things and makes everyday seem like a fire drill. Using time to fill as a measure can also negatively impact quality of hire, which in turn can negatively impact turnover, which causes the cycle of recruit, retain, recruit, retain, recruit, retain spiral into the day-to-day drama that many have expressed to us. There is a better measure regarding time on our website.

If you are like 68% of respondents that do not measure quality then we’d suggest now is a good time to start. Based on our survey the most measured metric for organizations is Turnover with 89% of participants measuring it. It seems almost natural that one of the causes of turnover could be quality of candidate yet the vast majority of organizations do not measure quality. On average the response to not measuring quality is attributed to the complexity of measuring it, the lack of time, as well as the definition of quality among other things. We believe the quality measure we utilize addresses all of those concerns. In fact, our measure forces a shared responsibility with the hiring manager in defining what quality means and when it will be measured. To effectively impact the cause of turnover quality of hire must be measured. There is a better measure regarding quality on our website.

Chances are you are part of the 89% of participants that measures Turnover. Typical measures of Turnover are cost related insomuch as how much it costs an organization when an employee leaves. The fact is any cost related measure regarding turnover, in its most conservative form, can cost an organization a significant amount of money. The cost analysis is typically conducted to garner funding for retention initiatives but we believe it only tells part of the turnover story. We believe the focus of turnover should be shifted to measuring if an organization is losing top performers in key roles (based on the company’s short & long term business goals) and why. This approach will significantly align your department with the organizational goals and allow you to focus your retention efforts and funding.

By drawing a line in the sand today and focusing your effort on one (or more) of the items listed above you can dramatically change the focus of how your HR and Staffing function operates. The fire drill will happen periodically and not every day. Your team’s effort will be focused on key components of the recruiting process that will allow them to be viewed differently and interact differently with hiring managers. While it will take upfront effort, resources and change management, it will set you on the path to long-term success.