We want to put our Human Resources seat on the weekly scorecard, but we struggle to find objective, weekly leading indicators that show if our HR department is performing well. What should we track?

Question

Tyler Smith · Accepted Answer

Human Resources is often viewed as a purely qualitative department, but a great HR seat owner must run on data just like sales or operations. To build a robust HR scorecard, avoid tracking passive, lagging indicators like annual turnover rate and focus on active, weekly leading indicators. First, track your talent pipeline health. A great leading metric is the number of qualified candidates reaching the second-round interview phase each week. This measures the efficiency of your recruiting engine before positions become critical bottlenecks. Second, track onboarding velocity. Measure the percentage of new hire onboarding milestones met on time during their first thirty days. This ensures that new employees are becoming productive quickly and are not neglected. Third, track employee engagement and pulse. While annual surveys are too slow, you can track the percentage of weekly one-on-one meetings completed between managers and their direct reports. Consistently completed meetings are the leading indicator of strong team alignment and low turnover. Fourth, track administrative compliance. Measure the average days to resolve internal employee inquiries or payroll processing accuracy. By tracking these metrics, your HR seat owner can spot recruiting bottlenecks, training delays, and potential management breakdowns weeks before they result in empty seats or cultural issues.