Analyzing Recruitment Metrics

HR: Employees are leaving jobs. CFO: Do we have data on why they’re leaving? HR: Yes. 70% of our turnover is tied to unmet needs like growth, recognition, and flexibility. CEO: But how much does it actually cost us when they leave? HR: Each lost employee costs 1.5x their salary to replace, not to mention the productivity gap. CEO: We need to reduce spending. We can't spend on engagement programs. CFO: What’s the impact of these engagement programs on retention? HR: Programs focused on growth and recognition have reduced turnover by 25%, saving us $3M annually. CEO: Are there other benefits to meeting employee needs? HR: Absolutely. Employees who feel valued are 30% more productive and report higher satisfaction. CFO: What about profitability? CHRO: Engaged teams generate 21% higher profitability. It’s not just about keeping them. It’s about keeping them productive and motivated. CEO: So cutting back on programs that meet employee needs could cost us more? CFO: The data shows there’s a significant financial impact. HR: Meeting employee needs isn’t just an expense. It’s an investment in retention, productivity, and profit. The lesson? Employees quit when their needs go unmet, whether it’s for growth, recognition, or flexibility. Invest in your employees.

Too often I see companies focused on the candidate experience for referrals without paying attention to the employee experience. Story time… I joined Dropbox in 2010 when it was a small startup of just 25 people. For the next few years, we were flying high…  - We reached unicorn status with a staggering $4B valuation.  - We were tripling our company-size every year.  - Our revenue and active users were growing even faster.  - And we were doing everything we could just to keep up. We had a super strong referrals program and it was always our biggest source of candidates. In 2014/2015, we started to hit some serious hiring bottlenecks… the culprit? Referrals had started to taper off. I teamed up with our Head of Recruiting Operations to figure out why. The first thing we did was gather a ton of feedback from coworkers as to why they were making fewer referrals. We uncovered a breakdown in communication.  - Many Dropboxers had experiences where they would refer a candidate and their friend would never hear back from the recruiter on the job.    - In other cases, a referred candidate would enter process, but the referrer would never hear the outcome (e.g., if their friend was rejected).  → Across the board, communication issues led to a deterioration of trust, so employees were less likely to refer their friends. We were brainstorming what to do, and one recruiter suggested… what if we added SLAs? Both for getting back to candidates AND for referrers. Here’s what happened:  1. Candidate Experience improved — because referrals were guaranteed to get a touchpoint from recruiters every 1-3 business days (depending on where they were in process).    2. Employee Experience improved — we added an SLA where referrers would hear back from a recruiter within Y days of submitting a referral about whether they were a good fit, and within Z days of that candidate being dispositioned (e.g., hired, rejected, dropping out, etc.).    3. More referrals — as we started to rebuild trust through better SLAs and communication, we started to build trust in the hiring process, and our Dropboxers were more likely to make referrals. These days, whenever I talk to customers and hear that they’re tracking referral SLAs, I smile inside… because it takes me back 2015 when me and my Head of Rec Ops were in the trenches learning the importance of referral SLAs first-hand. Are referrals becoming a smaller and smaller source of hire for your team? Consider digging in to see why fewer referrals are happening and whether adding an SLA would help. And let me know if posts like this are helpful. Happy to spend more time going down memory lane to things we did at Dropbox before starting Gem :)

HR loves to brag about turnover rates and hires made. But most leaders still see that as busywork. We track turnover, retention, and jobs filled. But those numbers only tell part of the story. What if we started asking a different question: What difference did our work actually make? That’s the difference between activity and impact. Let’s look closer. ✅ 𝗬𝗼𝘂 𝘁𝗿𝗮𝗰𝗸𝗲𝗱 𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗻𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗿. But what was the cost savings of reducing it? Less recruiting spend. Lower training costs. → 𝘛𝘩𝘢𝘵’𝘴 𝘪𝘮𝘱𝘢𝘤𝘵. ✅ 𝗬𝗼𝘂 𝘁𝗿𝗮𝗰𝗸𝗲𝗱 𝗿𝗲𝘁𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻. But did it connect to results or revenue growth? When people stay, work moves quicker and clients win. → 𝘛𝘩𝘢𝘵’𝘴 𝘪𝘮𝘱𝘢𝘤𝘵. ✅ 𝗬𝗼𝘂 𝘁𝗿𝗮𝗰𝗸𝗲𝗱 𝗷𝗼𝗯𝘀 𝗳𝗶𝗹𝗹𝗲𝗱. But did you measure their speed to productivity? Time to productivity ties directly to results. → 𝘛𝘩𝘢𝘵’𝘴 𝘪𝘮𝘱𝘢𝘤𝘵. 𝗛𝗲𝗿𝗲’𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗴: → Leaders don’t wake up excited about activity metrics. → They care about business results. When you start showing impact, everything changes. → Your conversations with executives shift. → Your seat at the table feels more secure. → And your HR work gets the visibility it deserves. 𝗦𝗼 𝗵𝗼𝘄 𝗱𝗼 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗯𝗲𝗴𝗶𝗻? ➡️ Translate every HR metric into a business outcome. Ask: Did this effort save money? Did it increase revenue? Did it reduce risk? ➡️ Use dollar signs whenever you can. Executives notice dollars. ➡️ Connect people data to business goals. Show how HR work drives the bottom line. Tracking activity keeps you busy. Tracking impact shows your value. The choice is yours. What’s one HR metric you could reframe to show real impact? If this helped, share it with someone in your network who tracks HR data. ♻️ I appreciate 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺 repost. 𝗪𝗮𝗻𝘁 𝗺𝗼𝗿𝗲 𝗛𝗥 𝗶𝗻𝘀𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁𝘀? Click the "𝗩𝗶𝗲𝘄 𝗺𝘆 𝗡𝗲𝘄𝘀𝗹𝗲𝘁𝘁𝗲𝗿" link below my name for weekly tips to elevate your career! #HRAnalytics #PeopleData #HRMetrics Adams HR Consulting Stephanie Adams, SPHR

12 Succession Planning (SP) Metrics (to measure the impact of your SP) SP shouldn't feel like a guessing game. It's a practice requiring deliberate thought. SP metrics can provide insights that inform actions. Here are 12 examples of SP metrics:  1. % turnover in the successor pool  2. % of succession roles with a succession plan  3. % of successors considered a high retention risk  4. Success rate (you can define) of placed successors  5. % of positions filled by succession plan when vacant  6. % of succession roles with one ready-now successor  7. Diversity composition (you define) of succession pool  8. % unique successors in pool compared to total plans  9. % of non-ready successors with a development plan 10. Average number of successors per succession role 11. Number of development moves away from ready 12. Average time until successors are ready These 12 are just examples. Use them as a starting point to build your metrics. 💡A Few More Thoughts: — Start with the SP question you are trying to answer — Be clear on why knowing the answer matters — Pick a metric(s) that best answers the question — Select just a few metrics to start; build as you go — Tech can help track, but don't let a lack of it stop you — Use insights to tell a story and inform actions — Measure and track progress and adjust as needed ❓What metrics or other tips would you add? Share your ideas here so we can benefit from them. ♻️ Repost to help your network with succession And follow me, Brian Heger, for more If you found this helpful, a new issue of my Talent Edge Weekly newsletter comes out today, 6/8, at 6 PM EST. Get it with 50,000+ others. (see my featured section). #hr #successionplanning

Measuring recruiting success is essential. But don’t get caught up in just filling roles. Instead, focus on the right metrics. In every talent acquisition strategy, some recruiters rely solely on basic metrics like time-to-hire or number of placements. You’ve probably seen it before: ↘️ Prioritizing speed over quality. ↘️ Hiring to fill quotas, not for long-term fit. ↘️ Ignoring candidate experience entirely. But it’s a short-sighted approach. There’s a much better way to evaluate recruiting success by focusing on key performance indicators (KPIs) that drive real impact. It’s about: ✅ Quality of hire – How well new hires perform and contribute to the organization. ✅ Retention rates – Are your hires staying and growing within the company? ✅ Candidate experience – Ensuring every applicant has a positive and professional interaction. ✅ Offer acceptance rate – The ratio of offers extended to those accepted. ✅ Time-to-productivity – How quickly new hires ramp up and start delivering results. Recruiting isn’t just about filling seats. It’s about building strong teams, improving retention, and ensuring long-term success for both the candidate and the company. 🧠 Remember: Real recruiting success is measured by quality and fit. What metrics do you use to evaluate your recruiting process?

73% of HR teams are tracking metrics that don't actually drive business value. Fresh analysis from AI ALPI reveals how top companies are revolutionizing HR metrics: ↳ Talent Acquisition teams fixating on time-to-fill? Wrong focus. Top performers use Quality of Hire Score (combining time-to-productivity + retention + hiring manager satisfaction) ↳ Still using basic engagement scores? Leading organizations have shifted to Employee Net Promoter Score (eNPS) with 3.2x higher correlation to revenue growth The real game-changers: Workforce Productivity North Star → Revenue Per Employee isn't enough → Top companies layer in Operational Cost Efficiency (30% more predictive of success) → Span of control optimization adds 22% to productivity scores Talent Development Metrics → Internal Mobility Rate (not just promotion rate) → Skills Gap Closure Velocity (2.5x more important than traditional L&D metrics) → Career Path Ratio (new metric showing 40% correlation with retention) DEI Progress Evolution → Moving beyond representation → Inclusion Index becoming primary metric → Pay Equity tracked real-time, not annually The biggest surprise? Organizations using these modern HR North Star metrics see: → 47% higher talent retention → 3.1x better succession readiness → 28% increase in revenue per employee Game-changing insight: HR metrics should evolve with company maturity, just like product metrics. Netflix-style evolution needed. Don't let your HR function fall behind. This isn't just another framework – it's the new standard for HR excellence. Share this with your HR leader or CEO if you want them to be ahead of the curve. 🔥 Want more breakdowns like this? Follow along for insights on: → Getting started with AI in HR teams → Scaling AI adoption across HR functions → Building AI competency in HR departments → Taking HR AI platforms to enterprise market → Developing HR AI products that solve real problems #HRTech #PeopleAnalytics #FutureOfWork #HRTransformation #AIinHR

Recruiting teams love data. Until it tells them something they don’t want to hear. You track time-to-fill, cost-per-hire, and maybe even candidate satisfaction. But are you measuring what actually impacts business outcomes? Three most overlooked recruiting metrics that separate top-tier hiring teams from the rest: ✅ Hiring Velocity Yes, how long it takes to fill a role matters. But how quickly do your top candidates move through the funnel? If your best candidates keep getting stuck at final approvals, you’re losing them to competitors. ✅ First-Year Turnover Rate A great hiring process finds long-term fits. If 30% of your hires leave in Year 1, something is broken—in hiring criteria, onboarding, or culture fit. ✅ Offer Acceptance Rate (OAR) If your OAR is under 80%, analyze your compensation, employer brand, and candidate experience. Losing talent at the finish line is the easiest fix—most companies ignore it. Don't track more things. Track the RIGHT things. If your hiring process isn’t improving, you might be looking at the wrong numbers. Hit me up if you need help getting your data metrics where they should be. #peopleanalytics #hiringmetrics #recruiting

In this increasingly litigious era of DEI pushback, it is more important than ever for HR and DEI teams to invest in people analytics and data science capabilities. While at Uber, I hired two org psych PhDs with exceptional qualitative and quantitative research capabilities. They collaborated with people analytics to develop and conduct innovative predictive factor analysis using data beyond traditional demographics. They were also tasked to transform how Uber gathered data. These innovations in data allowed Uber’s DEI approach to be truly data informed and data driven. Rather than relying on imprecise lagging metrics (representation, turn over) we could pinpoint the exact root cause of inequity and address it at the source. Factor and process analysis helped the Uber recruiting team pinpoint that our biggest hurdle to hiring from historically overlooked groups was top of funnel diversity. If an underrepresented person could make it past initial phone screens they had a high probability of getting an offer. It was the initial resume review and phone screen that were acting as blockers. This allowed for further analysis and a solution was created to mitigate bias at this stage. Rather than utilizing tired methods like candidate slate requirements, we could focus on root causes rather than throwing darts in the dark.

HR teams are surrounded by dashboards, reports, and data, but not all numbers drive decisions. If you want real influence at the table, you need to track what actually moves the needle. Here are 8 HR metrics worth your attention and how to use them strategically: 1️⃣ Quality of Hire 🔹 What it is: Measures how well new hires perform and stay. 🔹 Why it matters: Bad hires drain time, money, and morale. 🔹 Use it to: Track performance, retention, and manager feedback at 6 and 12 months. 2️⃣ Employee Turnover (Voluntary & Involuntary) 🔹 What it is: The percentage of employees leaving the company. 🔹 Why it matters: High turnover = high hidden costs. 🔹 Use it to: Segment by department, tenure, or manager to identify root causes. 3️⃣ Time to Fill 🔹 What it is: How long it takes to fill an open role. 🔹 Why it matters: Vacant positions disrupt productivity. 🔹 Use it to: Compare against benchmarks and improve internal hiring processes. 4️⃣ Employee Net Promoter Score (eNPS) 🔹 What it is: Measures satisfaction and loyalty. 🔹 Why it matters: Low engagement kills retention and performance. 🔹 Use it to: Run quarterly surveys and act quickly on feedback trends. 5️⃣ First-Year Turnover Rate 🔹 What it is: Percentage of employees who leave within 12 months. 🔹 Why it matters: High rates point to issues in hiring or onboarding. 🔹 Use it to: Spot patterns by recruiter, manager, or role and fix the leaks. 6️⃣ Internal Promotion Rate 🔹 What it is: How often you fill roles with internal talent. 🔹 Why it matters: Low rates = missed growth and retention opportunities. 🔹 Use it to: Identify top performers early and create growth paths. 7️⃣ Pay Equity Ratio 🔹 What it is: Compares compensation across groups. 🔹 Why it matters: Pay gaps impact trust, retention, and risk. 🔹 Use it to: Audit by gender, race, and role to close gaps proactively. 8️⃣ Cost per Hire 🔹 What it is: Total cost to bring someone onboard. 🔹 Why it matters: High cost may reflect inefficiency or poor retention. 🔹 Use it to: Balance hiring quality with smart resource use. ✅ Bottom Line: You don’t need more reports, you need better ones. Track what matters. Use what you track. And lead with data that tells a story. 💬 Which of these metrics do you find most overlooked in your org? 👉 Follow Ricardo Cuellar for more no-fluff HR and workplace strategy tips. 📬 Want more insights like this? Subscribe to my newsletter, link in bio!

50% of quality hires come through referrals, yet this little mistake kills most programs. Team members tap into their direct connections to surface people they know and trust.  Then, the referral vanishes into the void. No updates. No timeline. Nothing. It makes me sad every time I see it happen because I know what comes next. The initial enthusiasm crashes. People get excited about a new referral program. They jump in to help. But without any visibility into what's happening with their referrals, they stop participating. They feel like no one's even looking at their recommendations. Most people think referral programs fail because of the size of rewards. But nothing kills a program more than leaving people in the dark about what happened to the talented friends they vouched for. Don't keep your referrers in the dark. Just taking 30 seconds to tell someone, "Hey, we reached out to your contact," or "They're moving to the next interview stage," goes a long way. Even better, automate these updates so they happen automatically. One company increased referral hires by 45% just by adding this single layer of transparency. They didn't need to pay out massive bonuses. Just clear, consistent updates. Send me a DM if you want to see exactly how top companies are keeping their referral programs alive. Happy to share what's working.