May 12, 2022

| Membership (fee-based) There are plenty of factors involved when it comes to developing and maintaining a thriving HR department. If your goal is to create a powerhouse team that will keep the company moving forward with innovative leadership direction and reliable people to drive home your mission, cultivating a culture of diversity and inclusion that fosters the proper training and career development growth for every employee so their voices will be heard is necessary. When colleagues share a true and equal sense of belonging on their team and throughout the entire organization, it solidifies their commitment to helping the company strive even further. That's why members of Forbes Human Resources Council want you to consider 12 additional points for evaluating the department's performance rates and achievements. Forbes Human Resources Council members share their insight. Photos courtesy of individual members. 1. Hiring And Retention Metrics At the tip of the spear are two simple metrics: the percentage of hiring and time to offer closure and retention of top talent. Underneath this are several initiatives which are informed through our active and real-time employee net promoter score. These initiatives are run by champions from within each team who own the solution to any needs. This grassroots empowerment is a significant building block to inculcating a core value we have around ownership - Sonali Damle , Innovaccer Inc 2. Baseline Data And Strategic Goals Every HR department and team should have strategic goals. You can measure the success of an HR team or department by utilizing an HR scorecard that identifies the baseline data and strategic goals. As processes or initiatives are implemented, surveys should be conducted to analyze results against baseline data and goals established. - Tania White , Canary HR Consulting 3. Internal Interest In Open Roles One of the ways I measure our success is when it comes to openings on the HR team. If we see a lot of internal interest from the areas that we support, that tells me we're effective business partners and have built a collaborative and supportive reputation. - Kristen Hommes , Beztak MORE FOR YOU 4. Workforce Confidence And Trust HR should be a champion and strategist for devising processes, policies and programming in alignment with strategic business priorities and achieving outcomes through people. The greatest measure of success for these efforts will be apparent in workforce confidence levels, trust and employee sense of belonging. It's crucial to keep a regular pulse on all of these through engagement and outreach. - Courtney Peterson , Edison Electric Institute 5. The Maintenance Of An Employee-Focused Culture The success of an HR team can be measured by the level of attrition, absenteeism and engagement. HR is successful when the company has a culture focused on diversity, inclusion, equity, employee wellbeing, employee engagement and career development. HR is also successful when employees feel a sense of belonging and demonstrate their commitment to helping the company achieve its business goals. - Ochuko Dasimaka , Career Heights Consulting, Inc. 6. Effective Data Management And Metrics Implementation Set goals for all activities where numbers are useful, including recruiting, DEI metrics and timely implementation of people programs. Gather people's sentiments about HR through candidate experience, culture and employee engagement surveys. Verbatim comments, focus groups and one-on-one meetings will capture what numbers cannot. - Mikaela Kiner , Reverb 7. Heightened Communication Levels And Transparency Aside from conducting employee engagement surveys, the key indicators of a successfully run HR team are open and honest communication, transparency and trust both within the team and with employees across all other departments. Company culture is also a reflection of the HR team. HR, in collaboration with leadership, is responsible for developing, supporting and leading culture. - Dana Garaventa , Opus One Winery LLC 8. The Mix Of Empathy With Business HR can be successful if one can wear the hats of business and empathy together. So, it can be measured by monitoring the following key indicators: 1. employee engagement score and trend, 2. the success rate of converting the market talent pool into employees along with the efficiency rate, 3. the trend and score of revenue or profitability and 4. the number of positions filled internally annually. - Prakash Raichur , Taghleef Industries 9. HR Members Having A Seat At The Table Often, the success of an HR department is directly reflected in the success of the company as a whole. It's not just KPIs around retention rates, engagement scores or time to hire that define how successful an HR team is. When HR truly has a seat at the table, they can guide the executive team to ensure that business strategy is supported by people and talent strategy. - Katya Daniel , Golden Hippo 10. Positive Employee Experiences People spend the majority of their lives at work and it is the company's job to ensure that the culture is healthy and positive. When I see employees sharing gratitude, collaborating and challenging each other for the betterment of everyone, I deem that a successful day. - Imani Carroll , Just Food For Dogs 11. Each Department's All-Around Performance Level Measuring success isn't always easy as there are a lot of criteria that one can use. However, I measure success through the engagement of the team and through the impact that engagement has on the entire organization. When you have an HR team that is performing at all levels, time to fill, attrition, engagement, culture and more are all positively impacted as HR has the heart and beat of the entire organization. - Iman Abbasi , Symbotic 12. Growing Support For Department Heads And Teams I always measure my success as a people leader and the success of the HR department by the engagement scores of my organization and their internal teams. If my managers are succeeding with their teams, then I am doing my job properly. Retention and engagement scores are key for me when strategically planning the next steps for each year. - Kelly Loudermilk , BuildHR, Inc. Check out my  website .