In this interview, Human Resources Consultant Shad Raza talks about the importance of incorporating HR metrics throughout an organization’s business plan and how metrics can elevate the department from a cost center to a business driver.

hrh media: How can an organization integrate HR metrics throughout its entire business plan?

To make a business operation effective, a business plan must be translated into functional metrics without deviating from the sanctity of business objectives. Similarly, HR metrics must be aligned with the business plan for the optimum utilization of human capital. For integration with a business plan, HR professionals should drill down into every aspect of their business objectives and align those with people performance.

The success of integration is elevated when it is clearly spelt out in “actionable” terms and is understood by the entire workforce. Once it is aligned, an organization must accelerate its performance level by providing the right support and organizational system.

hrh media: What are some current or evolving HR metrics that may be unfamiliar to many human resources professionals? Furthermore, why should they make an effort to learn them?

There are various traditional and new metrics available such as HRIS, benchmarking, data mining, dashboards, predictive analysis and HR score cards or balanced score cards that are being prevailed and used by HR professionals based on their business needs. These metrics provide an advantage to HR professionals to not only align to the strategic goals of the organization but to bridge the gap by identifying and fulfilling the performance levels in a timely manner. Hence, they must learn, adapt and contribute.

hrh media: On a basic level, how can human resources professionals use metrics to prove to upper management that their department is a business driver and not a cost center?

If used properly, HR metrics cannot only help an HR professional to enhance organizational performance, but it can also prove that HR is a business driver like other functions, which helps an organization achieve and sustain high-growth performance. Translating HR’s tactical and strategic intentions into effective monetary terms is one of the basic tenets of HR metrics.

Therefore, extracting the right data, doing the appropriate data mining, converting them into the monetary term, presenting it to the right people at the right time and utilizing these metrics in a timely way is the crux of HR metrics. Hence, HR professionals must learn, deploy and incorporate metrics into an organizational reporting system, which can drastically change the misconception of HR in the eyes of upper management. It also improves accuracy of management decisions.

hrh media: What are some battle-tested metrics that are still relevant today?

HR Score Card & Balanced Score Card are two of the most powerful and proven metrics that can boost organizational performance, but there are some organizations where they have synchronized these score cards with Six Sigma, too.