It is exciting for me to hear that HR practitioners that are attending this summit are moving past typical tracking measures and actually getting to metrics that matter to the business.
Today, I heard case studies from HR professionals on how they have "linked" various data sets to create insight for the business. (Thank Goodness!). Examples include:
- linking volunteerism to employee engagement resulting in higher productivity/performance
- Linking employee engagement to customer loyalty resulting in increased profits
- Linking leadership effectiveness to employee engagement leading to increased customer loyalty
I am in a unique environment at this metrics conference. I am hanging out with people like me that understand that metrics and analytics are necessary and the one way that HR can finally be strategic and add value to the business.
My concern is that HR professionals as a whole have not hopped on the the metrics train soon enough. As Jac Fitz-Enz said at the Conference Board last year, "If HR doesn't do metrics, someone else will." YIKES!
Another piece of information that got my attention last week:
Accenture just completed a study that 80% of CFO's have seen an increase in their responsibilities - and 39% said that included taking over Human Resources projects/programs
So, with reluctance to get onboard the metrics train and the increased interest from Finance in HR's business....I think we have now crossed into the urgent arena.
What are your thoughts, are we on the train, has the train left the station, can we catch up?