Having an employee management system is not enough. It’s a first step to maximizing HR’s strategic role, but in order to do so it needs to track the right metrics.
HR managers- the architects of employee experiences
In the current business context, HR is transitioning from being an administrative function, a support function if you will, to having a key strategic role. For many companies, this is still a work in progress, but they’re getting there. Because, let’s be honest, soon they won’t have a choice.
Giving HR a seat at the strategic conference table is no longer optional. Because talent is no longer accessible in large quantities. More so, these talented new employees don’t have an unquestionable need to stay. On the contrary, they are consumers who always want a more satisfying experience.
Alison Griswold frames it very efficiently in her recent article – In defense of HR.
“HR is not just a logistically necessary department, but also an important tactical arm that helps a small business grow into a medium or even big one.”
Indeed, HR managers are the architects of employee experiences that can fuel a company’s success. Equipped with the proper tools and autonomy, HR managers can measure and improve employee engagement, retention and productivity, leading to better business outcomes.
In the past, these tools amounted to an employee management system that tracked administrative aspects such as compliance, payroll, recruitment and work reporting. Now, HR managers need to bring added value to business objectives. To do so, they need the right system.
An employee management system has to track and measure talent metrics as well
HR managers need to access essential data that translates an employee’s entire work experience, if they are to develop a strategic overview and support business objectives. Key metrics such as employee engagement, retention, performance and learning.
Engagement
A first step into integrating employee engagement in your HR strategy is to look at your HR function as the key to gaining alignment throughout the organization and include it in the process from the beginning.
Focus on the unique culture within your company and fit that strategy to your employee persona. Analyze the main engagement drivers in your company, to get a better reading on how engagement affects employee perception on pay, benefits, rewards, etc. (Read more)
Retention
A common tendency for companies is to invest large amounts of money into their recruitment efforts and stop there. After the employee has found his/her desk it’s game over. (Read more)
Performance
Have employees set clear goals and track them with the help of their direct manager. Empower them to surpass their limits, to responsibly achieve the goals they’ve set and deliver quality work.
Every individual has his/her own productivity pace. Some people may be more productive in the morning, other in the afternoon. Some might work 2 hours straight, other may need a break every 60 minutes. Adapt your performance tracking system to your team’s way of working. (Read more)
Learning
By advancing job performance and employee engagement, learning and development initiatives can stimulate inventiveness and improve a company’s competitive edge.
Empower and equip employees with the necessary knowledge and experiences and build their commitment. Encourage each individual to develop their unique talent and assert it in a stimulating working environment.
Make sure you follow these essential steps: needs assessment, designing a curriculum, preparing and delivering the agenda, getting feedback and following up on it. Most importantly, constantly communicate with employees, and build the program to fit their necessities. (Read more)
Why employee happiness should be one of those metrics
In his latest article “The economics of workplace happiness”, our CEO Vlad Bodi talks about the inherent way in which we associate work with effort, development, professionalism and rigor. How even the most out-of-the-box workplaces find it difficult to associate work with the abstract concept of happiness. Even though they want it, they can’t pursue it unless there’s some data to reassure them that it’s economically safe to pursue happiness.
But employees want and need to be happy in the workplace. They want their work to have meaning. They want to build work relationships built on trust and collaboration, which will enable them to leverage their strengths and learn from others.
Happiness at work drives a 12% increase in productivity, according to Professor Andrew Oswald, Dr Eugenio Proto and Dr Daniel Sgroi from the Department of Economics at the University of Warwick. If you were to measure the happiness level in your company, you would see exactly how close you are to success. Because real success is not only in financial outcomes, it’s in the very way you conduct your business.
“The more we work with workplace happiness inside our team, the more we learn about it. My desire, as a manager, is to offer my team the best working experience they could want. Their trust and support have been key in achieving this.”
Vlad Bodi, Hppy CEO
Bottom-line
Your HR system has to integrate every aspect of an employee’s working experience. The only way you can optimize and improve your talent management is by correlating all these key metrics, such as retention, performance, engagement and happiness.
What are the key metrics that your company measures? We’d love to hear more on the system you’re using for your team and the results you’ve had so far.
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