What’s the difference? I’m so glad you asked!
I don’t think that there is anyone in the human resources profession who doesn’t yearn to be “strategic,” but what does that really mean?
Are we strategic because we sit on the executive team? Are we strategic because we are invited to the party in important business planning, like acquisitions, organizational change, or new ventures? Are we strategic because we have the ear of operational leaders?
You can probably answer “yes” to each of those questions, but more importantly, to all of those questions. Those are activities though. I suggest that we become strategic when we impact the organization’s bottom line.
HR metrics
Over the years, in an effort to become more strategic, HR has embraced metrics, measures and benchmarks as a means of demonstrating their impact. We measure things like voluntary turnover, HR:FTE ratio, Benefits as a percentage (%) of revenue, average total compensation, merit increase pro-ration, management ratio, training cost per FTE, time and cost to hire, and even training ROI.
On shrm.org, there is a list of 107 HR metrics, each with a calculation formula. This is a great resource, but what do these metrics really tell us?
via It’s Not About HR Strategy – It’s About PEOPLE Strategy.
