Human Resources (HR) management might arguably be the topmost deciding factor in a company’s growth trajectory. Business leaders might be experts in their respective fields but novices in terms of managing employees, thereby underlining the significance of HR efficiency.
Not only is an experienced HR manager capable of resolving organizational behavior conflicts, but he/she also draws talent into organizations. An efficient HR department is like a piece of well-oiled machinery that can enhance the overall productivity of a company and is fairly influential in shaping company decisions.
Although business owners fully realize the importance of HR departments, they find it hard to ascertain the key performance indicators (KPIs) while measuring the efficiency and effectiveness of their company’s HR unit. And even though keeping track of HR metrics is bound to help your firm’s talent sustainability, it is something that is yet to be clearly understood and implemented.
On that note, let’s dive deep into how you can measure and improve HR efficiency through certain key indicators and techniques.
Semi-Automated Employee Recruitment
One of the most pivotal HR duties is ensuring the inflow of new talent into the firm. This cumbersome and complicated task can be simplified by the use of an Applicant Tracking System (ATS). This includes all the procedural aspects of recruiting like job posting, emails, resume importing, candidate screening, and interviewing.
Just by incorporating the right ATS into HR efficiency workflow, companies can process hundreds of applicants quickly and efficiently and filter out the best and most suitable personnel to meet the organization’s needs.
For starters, this automated system standardizes all different types and formats of resumes received, followed by resume screening based on keywords and phrases that match the job description. This narrows down the pool of applicants and helps you categorize the potential hires depending on the experience and qualifications required for the position.
The progress of each candidate is tracked through a centralized database as he/she moves through the various stages of interviewing, reference checking, job offer, and acceptance. It is advisable to maintain records of all applicants as it helps fulfill future vacancies in similar roles without the added hassle of initiating the process from scratch.
Smart Employee Onboarding
Once the selected employee formally accepts the job offer, it is the duty of the HR department to bring him/her up to speed with their role, the company’s proceedings, the culture, and the inner workings of the job. This is known as the employee onboarding or orientation process. It is imperative that employee engagement kicks off on the first day itself so you should have a robust onboarding plan that is well balanced and efficient. That way the new hire can start contributing as soon as possible, not to mention being able to adhere to company policies properly.
HR efficiency units use state-of-the-art onboarding software to integrate a newly hired employee seamlessly with the rest of the company. Such software provides self-service portals that greatly simplify paperwork and override the need for other tedious initial formalities that might waste precious office hours.
It is always a wise investment for any firm to provide a thorough and consistent introduction to new employees as it dramatically impacts engagement, performance, and retention in the long run. It is also to be kept in mind that these automated systems are to be used only to fastrack training and formalities, and they can never play as a substitute for a one-on-one orientation.
Periodic Performance Reviews
While many firms have deemed performance reviews obsolete, the use of the right software can be a game-changer. Well-designed and balanced performance reviews substantially affect employee engagement, satisfaction, and overall productivity in a positive manner.
Since it helps employees progress more quickly along their career path, this exercise is appreciated and encouraged by the employees as well.
And now that performance review software can be synced internally with productivity measurement tools, performance-based appraisals can now be an ongoing process instead of an annual occurrence. In particular, this incentivizes the HR department to stay on their toes at all times, and on the whole, stakeholders can collaborate on a single platform to track progress.
Efficient Shift Scheduling
The traditional methods of deploying mind-numbing spreadsheets to delegate and schedule work through the shifts is the primary reason for decreased efficiency. Many new-age scheduling systems present online improve workforce morale and allow managers to single-handedly tackle the most complicated scheduling logistics.
Organizations also need to leverage the data-driven nature of these tools, which makes them dynamic and self-corrective. Such data-driven scheduling can give companies a competitive edge in the market. This can also be followed by analytics and labor forecasting.
The use of cutting-edge schedulers will alleviate all operational hiccups and keep assignments uniformly distributed amongst employees over the course of time.
Adequate Incentivization
As generic as it may sound, incentives do make up for a large portion of workforce motivation. It may be in the form of regular bonuses, extra leaves per year, company shares and/or medical insurance, but the end goal remains the same. To draw out the most from an employee in exchange for added perks over their base salaried income.
It is no rocket science that individuals within a set system perform better not only when they are coerced but also when they are given rewards in return. Incentives act as those tiny but effective stimulants that can have an ever-lasting impact on the company’s overall growth. From the firm’s perspective, they should not be seen as short-term losses, rather as long-term investments into their human resources for the greater good.
Conclusion
HR lays the groundwork for a healthy company culture, which bears fruits in the form of employee retention and employee satisfaction. And the keys to improving HR efficiency lie in improving organizational communication, using the right enterprise asset management software, leveraging the power of data analytics, and forging an ambiance conducive to sustainable growth.
While it is necessary to keep track of the prominent HR KPIs, it is also true that there’s no one-size-fits-all approach to measuring HR success. However, all the meaningful indicators should cater and quantify HR’s response to organizational issues like staff retention crisis, increased automation, employer branding, and so on.
HR practices have to make a seismic shift from do-it-yourself methods, spreadsheets, and formulas to online tools for managerial success. It is fairly apparent that the methods involving manually tracking and recording information are time-consuming and labor-intensive, and less effective for predicting employee turnover, and therefore, should be phased out for better alternatives.
