Issue link: http://www.e-digitaleditions.com/i/169755
HRO Today Forum APAC A very popular metric—especially to recruiters—is time to hire said Ranade. But on a strategic level, organisations should be more focused on time to productivity, he claimed. cost incurred to train new hourly staff. So while the turnover rate was higher, the cost of labour was much lower than a permanent employee. What's more important: bringing someone in quicker or someone being effective sooner? Ranade felt the latter could have greater business impact in the long run. Just think how more effective the recruitment and training process could become if an organisation could pinpoint why highperforming employees reached their potential so quickly. Ranade recommended analysing the individual employee data of someone who reached their productively level in the shortest time frame possible. Look at sourcing methodologies. Examine the competencies, behaviours, and personalities of that star performer. Then leverage and replicate that process in order to hire future quality candidates. "It just shows that you can look at data," said Ranade. "Most of us go on our gut feeling and make decisions, and sometimes data can give you some very hard evidence that can have a huge impact on your bottom line." Another factor to consider around candidates with watermark levels of time to productivity is leadership. Ranade said if you can determine the competencies of management and the behaviours that are exhibited in training the high-performing employees, then chances are, the organization can replicate that process in other business segments. "Business strategy is important, HR strategy is important, and getting the right metrics is important," Ranade explained. "But applying those actionable metrics to your HR programs intelligently is equally as important." Case in Point Sustainable Performance Employee performance directly relates to business outcomes which makes it a key metric for an organization to analyse. Ranade noted that companies are bringing a level of transparency to employee performance by creating timelines that bookmark training completions, achievements, and reviews. Timelines can be leveraged to identify outliners and under performers, and outline employee career paths. This data can show the types of people that progress faster, have more success, and contribute more to the organisation. It can also show the sustainable performance of senior leadership. With that, organisations can model behaviour patterns and the types of training and experience that work to build talent for the future. Ranade shared another example to drive his point home about transparency. A Singapore-based company defined its leadership as 50 key executives. With a calculated attrition rate and factoring in retirement, 25 high-level employees were projected to be replaced within two years. Strengthening his argument, Ranade presented an interesting case study of an organization that leveraged data analysis to improve its bottom line. But real changes were in order. "Now 25 people out of your leadership is massive—that's a huge amount," quipped Ranade. "You need to plan for that." A retail company that hired full-time employees to staff their stores discovered they were actually better suited hiring parttime employees during the first year of business. Combining an experience manager with a crew of hourly paid employees resulted in a much more productive staff. A common approach for gaining leadership is to poach from other companies. Incentivise top performers from competitors and bring new hires over. By looking at data and analytics, this company recognised how costly new hire premiums are for leaders. So they considered another approach: sourcing internal candidates. While atypical and difficult to change traditional thinking, they actually adjusted their entire model. When they went into new markets, for the first year of business, they only hired part-time workers said Ranade. They had an experienced manager—either an expatriate or a local—come in to direct the staff. And the organization saw sales double. But of course, the business model wasn't without its challenges. Ranade said employee attrition began around the six- to eightmonth mark. It's no surprise that part-time workers aren't as loyal as full-time employees, but that didn't mean HR didn't freak out, recalled Ranade. But the finance executives were happy with the company's profit margins and the minimal "If you hire at middle management and train them based on what past leaders have achieved, it's going to cost you X. If you hire these leaders from outside sources and pay their premium, it's going to cost you Y," explained Ranade. "The difference between that was $2.5 million dollars. That's massive. Take that to your CFO and you're going to be his best friend for the rest of his life because he just saved $2.5 million over the next two years." Ranade's examples and advice paint a picture of how impactful metrics can be on an organisation. The data is there—but how its used is much more important. And in today's war for talent, any competitive edge is welcomed. SUMMER 2013 | www.hroglobal.com [29]