In recent years, we've witnessed an exciting revolution in HR software. Existing tools are better than ever, while new tools like Artificial Intelligence help Human Resources teams reach new heights of efficiency.
These new tools have also improved the quality of HR data, which is an enormous advantage to organizations. Analytics tools offer sharp, detailed insights that can highlight opportunities and support long-term growth.
However, every HR team must ask two crucial questions before they can unlock the benefits of HR data. Which metrics should you track, and how do you track them?
15 essential HR data metrics
With any analytics project, it's best to start by identifying the areas where there is the greatest need for data-driven insight. Do you need to improve your hiring process? Is there an issue with staff turnover?
Once you've identified your main focus area, you can start drilling down into the data. Here are some examples of metrics related to the following areas of interest:
- Employee experience
- Talent acquisition
- Workforce planning analytics
- Performance and productivity
- Employee well-being
Employee experience metrics
eNPS (Employee Net Promoter Score) trends
How to calculate: Ask employees, "How likely would you be to recommend your current employer to a friend or family member?" on a scale of 1-10, where 1 is very unlikely and 10 is extremely likely. Calculate the average of these scores and track trends over time.
Why it matters: Employee Net Promoter Score gives valuable insight into your employer brand. It also tells you about the current employee experience—employees are more likely to recommend your company to friends when they feel satisfied with their current situation.
Onboarding satisfaction and time-to-productivity
How to calculate: Survey new hires at 30, 60, or 90-day intervals using a standardized questionnaire that measures satisfaction with the onboarding process. For time-to-productivity, have managers estimate when new employees reach 80% productivity against established role benchmarks.
Why it matters: Effective onboarding helps your new hires get up and running as soon as possible. This leads to higher productivity and is associated with lower turnover in the first year.
Pulse survey response rates and sentiment analysis
How to calculate: Ask questions that target specific aspects of the employee experience. Use natural language processing tools to analyze open-ended responses and track positive, neutral, and negative sentiments across categories (leadership, culture, workload, etc.).
Why it matters: Pulse surveys provide real-time insights into employee concerns and organizational health. Response rates indicate engagement levels, while sentiment analysis helps identify emerging issues before they affect retention or productivity.
Talent acquisition metrics
Time-to-hire with workflow automation benchmarks
How to calculate: Measure the time elapsed from job requisition to accepted offer. Break down the results by stages (approval, posting, screening, interviewing, offer, acceptance) and compare them with those of automated and manual processes.
Why it matters: Extended hiring timelines increase costs and risk losing top candidates. By benchmarking automated versus manual workflows, organizations can identify bottlenecks, optimize processes, and properly allocate resources to high-impact activities.
Candidate experience scores
How to calculate: Survey candidates at various stages of the recruitment process about their experience. Measure satisfaction with communication, interview process, recruiter interactions, and overall impression of the company.
Why it matters: Candidate experience directly impacts employer brand, future applicant quality, and even customer perceptions if candidates are also customers. Negative experiences are frequently shared on review sites and social media, affecting your ability to attract top talent.
Cost-per-hire optimization
How to calculate: Divide total recruitment costs (advertising, recruiter time, technology tools, external agencies, referral bonuses, etc.) by the number of hires in a given period. Compare across departments, roles, and timeframes to identify optimization opportunities.
Why it matters: Understanding the true cost of different hiring approaches enables data-driven decisions about recruitment investments. When combined with quality metrics, cost-per-hire optimization ensures efficient allocation of limited recruiting resources.
Workforce planning analytics
Internal mobility and career path utilization
How to calculate: Track the percentage of open positions filled by internal candidates, lateral moves versus promotions, and the average time employees spend in a role before advancement. Monitor utilization of career development tools and internal job boards.
Why it matters: Strong internal mobility shows that your professional development program is yielding results. This can help reduce recruitment costs, improve retention, and preserve institutional knowledge. Measuring utilization helps identify barriers to internal movement and ensures career development investments deliver returns.
Succession readiness scores
How to calculate: For key roles, evaluate potential successors on readiness, time needed for development, and risk of departure. The 9-Box Grid method is a helpful way to assess leadership candidates. Calculate an overall succession readiness percentage based on critical positions with at least one "ready now" or "ready within 1 year" successor.
Why it matters: Effective succession planning minimizes business disruption during leadership transitions and reduces costs associated with external recruitment. Readiness scores highlight where development investments are needed most urgently.
Flexible workforce composition metrics (contractors vs. full-time)
How to calculate: Track the ratio of contingent workers (contractors, freelancers, temporary staff) to full-time employees by department and function. Monitor cost differentials, performance comparisons, and optimal mix based on business volatility and skill requirements.
Why it matters: Strategic workforce composition helps organizations maintain agility while controlling costs. Measuring the effectiveness of different employment models supports better decisions about when to build internal capabilities versus accessing external talent.
Performance and productivity indicators
Absenteeism rates
How to calculate: Don't just look at overall numbers. Give equal attention to patterns, such as high absenteeism rates among specific teams, on specific dates, or after certain project milestones.
Why it matters: Absenteeism is often an early indicator of employee experience issues. High rates of absenteeism could point to problems such as stress, burnout, or low engagement. Certain patterns of absenteeism might suggest that employees are seeking solutions to work-life balance issues.
Goal completion rates
How to calculate: Each performance review should include a number of tangible goals for the upcoming period. Look at the percentage completed for each employee. Some weighting will be necessary to ensure like-for-like comparisons.
Why it matters: Goal completion indicates whether an employee is meeting expectations. Issues here can indicate performance issues or highlight problems at a more strategic level. Are employees being given attainable goals? Do they have the tools required to hit targets?
Output quality indicators
How to calculate: Look at metrics that relate directly to the quality of employee performance. This can include customer satisfaction surveys, peer feedback, and analysis of time spent on errors and rework.
Why it matters: Quantitative metrics will measure an employee's productivity, but qualitative measures are essential for highlighting top performers. This data will identify people who are local experts and indicate others who might need additional support.
Employee well-being and retention
Work-life balance indicators
How to calculate: Look at average working hours, PTO utilization rates, and self-reported well-being scores from surveys. Look for correlations between these metrics and productivity, engagement, and retention outcomes. It's also important to seek qualitative feedback about employee satisfaction with their current work-life balance.
Why it matters: Poor work-life balance leads to burnout, decreased productivity, and turnover. Tracking these indicators allows early intervention and helps quantify the business impact of well-being initiatives.
Benefits utilization analytics
How to calculate: Measure enrollment and active usage rates for each benefit offering. Compare the utilization of benefits against employee retention, the attractiveness of benefits to potential candidates, and reasons for non-participation. Segment data by demographics to identify if the benefits package meets the needs of underserved groups
Why it matters: Understanding which benefits are actually valued and used helps optimize benefit investments. Utilization analytics prevent spending on programs with low impact while highlighting communication gaps around high-value offerings.
Skills acquisition rate through L&D platforms
How to calculate: Track the number of new skills acquired and certified per employee annually through learning management systems. Measure the application of new skills through manager assessments and project assignments.
Why it matters: Skills acquisition rates indicate workforce adaptability and future readiness. This metric helps evaluate the effectiveness of L&D investments and identifies high-potential employees who demonstrate accelerated learning.
Get expert help with HR data
HR metrics are only useful if they are driving your HR strategy. But what happens if you don’t have the resources to implement a winning strategy?
That’s where Helios HR comes in. For over 20 years, our team has been helping businesses to measure, plan, and execute their HR strategy.
Book a no-obligation consultation call with a Helios HR consultant today. Let’s discuss how we can help you take control of your people strategy.
