By: Natasha Hawker
HR has long
had a 'touchy feely' reputation but
this is fast changing and in my view will continue to do so. At the big end of
town, bit by bit the data is changing
or improving the decisions made around what is often one of the most expensive
costs to a business - your people.
I
believe that SMEs need to watch, learn and take best practice from the
corporate world, but use it if, and only if, it works for your
business. That said, I believe that you can learn from their mistakes but also
apply it in a way that makes sense for you.
For example
- what is the current employee turnover of your business as a percentage of
your total headcount? As a guide, a healthy turnover is about 10-20%, depending
on your industry. Why does this matter? - because it is damn expensive and
time-consuming to replace people, but it also means you are not focused on what
you should be! Not only that, there will
be a dip in productivity as a result.
How
would tracking the trends help? Well, for a start you might see the following:
- cost management opportunities
- identification of roles that are particularly difficult to retain and so develop strategies to address this
- identify management issues
- determine whether you are struggling to identify what you really need
- improve your company's attractiveness to the market- why would someone want to work for you?
There
are a number of beneficial pieces of data that are worth capturing as this will
enhance your decision making ability - some other metrics you might want to
consider are:
- workforce mix - permanent full / part time, temps, casuals & independent contractors
- annual leave liability vs. scheduled annual leave
- managed attrition vs. unmanaged attrition
- absenteeism trends / issues
All the
above are costs to your business but also they are levers that you can pull to
reduce costs.
What
metrics are you measuring and how has this impacted your business?
Natasha Hawker owns
Employee Matters Pty Ltd; an HR Consultancy that assists small to medium
businesses with their HR functions to make them more efficient and profitable. Their
offering includes HR Management, Recruitment, Training, Coaching, and Exit Management
– find them at www.employeematters.com.au
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