As an HR leader, you probably have many questions about objectives and key results (OKRs). At the top of that list are whether these metrics would be beneficial to your team and, if so, what they should be. We’ll walk you through the reasons why companies implement OKRs and where they tend to be the most useful for HR teams. Even if you’re not ready to go all-in on these metrics today, you’ll have a solid knowledge base when the time comes.
While it’s important to set OKRs based on your company’s unique circumstances, there are some widely applicable benefits:
These benefits alone are often enough to convince teams to instate OKRs. But if you’re not there yet, this list should provide a clear idea of how uniform metrics can help your organization improve its workflow and clarify employee expectations.
OKRs need to be tailored to the specific team to be the most beneficial. As you may remember from a recent blog post:
Let’s say, for example, that your organization is growing quickly. You know your company will need to fill a percentage of strategic roles to meet its targets for the upcoming year. Accurate HR metrics can inform time-to-hire estimates, optimize onboarding, and help you stay on top of your diversity and inclusion goals.
Adaptability is important because it shows that your organization is always changing—and so will the OKRs you focus on. Neglecting to adapt can lead to lost time, lost money, and a negative impact on employees.
These are the five categories where you’re likely to find performance metrics:
You may decide to pinpoint OKRs within all these categories or just focus on one or two top priorities based on your company’s current circumstances and goals. For example, if you’re trying to improve diversity and inclusion, you’ll want to spend more time on metrics within this category. You can experiment with others, but this should be your number one priority for the time being.
These HR OKR examples can be molded to suit your specific organization. For instance, time to hire may be most important to your company, while another employer is more interested in time to productivity. Don’t set or select OKRs because you think you have to. Choose the metrics that will provide valuable information and help you make meaningful decisions.
It’s not good enough to simply set OKRs for your HR team. You need a way to track these metrics so you can implement your findings. Check out our expert guide to tracking HR performance metrics to discover everything you need to take the next step and start measuring results in the context of your new benchmarks.
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