HR metrics: What do high-performing companies track?

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May 5, 2009
May 5, 2009

Want to be a high-performing company? Then track your talent. A new study on HR metrics by i4cp shows that higher-performing companies are more apt to measure talent-related metrics than lower performers. Common talent-related metrics include movement within the organization, quality of hires, quality of promotions and the cost of training/development.

For example, 93% of higher performers measure employee engagement, compared with 79% of lower performers. In this economy in particular, engaging the workforce is of paramount importance. Ninety-three percent of higher performers utilize employee engagement surveys, compared with 78% of lower performers. Ninety percent of high performers report the use of satisfaction surveys for such measures, compared with 68% of lower performers.

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The study - commissioned internally by i4cp - also found several other significant traits for high-performing organizations. For example, 71% of higher performers measure compliance or completion of diversity plans (52% in lower-performing companies), and 61% of higher performers, compared with 39% of lower performers, consider employee referral rates.

Conversely, the study showed that 78% of lower-performing organizations measure total labor cost to cost revenue percentage, compared with 55% of high-performing organizations. A higher percentage of lower performers (44%) also measure the employee-to-productivity-output ratio than higher-performing companies (25%).

The contrast is striking, but, as Mary Ann Downey, i4cp's Talent Pillar Director, says, "it most likely reflects the attitude that low-performing organizations see their employees a mere expense and not a source of competitive advantage."

Erik Samdahl
Erik oversees for all marketing efforts at i4cp and works alongside several departments to execute organizational initiatives. He has over 20 years of experience in the research industry.