BC HRMA's HR metrics service worth a serious look
Earlier this year, we took a moment to chastise people who take pot shots at the HR profession. (“It’s hard to do the math on people,” May 4, 2009.) That editorial was sparked by comments made to CFOs by Richard Beatty, an HR academic from Rutgers University, who took aim at what many consider to be HR’s Achilles heel: Metrics.
In that column, I took the position — and still firmly believe it — that it’s hard to do the math on people. Because people, after all, are a pretty unpredictable lot.
But there’s a big difference between hard and impossible, and the British Columbia Human Resources Management Association (BC HRMA) has underscored that fact with a new HR metrics service that — at first blush — looks like it could be the magic bullet HR professionals and organizations need. (See article #7188 for our news coverage of the new service.)
Already, the tool is unearthing some fascinating statistics from the 20 firms that took part in the pilot project and the 10 firms that have since signed up. It’s comparing things such as revenue and profit per full-time employee from one quarter to another. It’s already revealed the average retirement age for workers in participating firms is 60 — not 65, which is a common assumption.
And that’s just scratching the surface of the data available. What’s going to make or break the tool as a panacea for HR is critical mass. The more organizations the service can collect data from, the more reliable and relevant it will be for employers. In short, it needs a lot of employers on board.
The commitment from HR departments that sign up for the service is not insignificant. BC HRMA says it takes a lot of time and effort — especially the first time — to find out how and where to get the data. After an organization has been through the process once, it takes about five hours per quarter to update it. And cost could also be a factor. For BC HRMA members, the price tag is $1,500 per year plus a $250 setup fee. For non-members, it’s $2,250 per year with a $350 setup fee.
It’s a little ironic HR may have to build a business case to show the return on investment on an HR metrics tool, but it’s worth doing the math.
If the new tool is able to gather data from enough organizations, it could be time and money incredibly well spent. Employers will gain access to a wealth of data that enables them to make smarter, empirically based decisions while the HR profession gets its hands on a tool that will help it bring that missing ingredient — metrics — to the table every time.
BC HRMA is also thinking beyond its borders. It wants to partner with other HR associations to take it national — a classic case of taking a good idea and making it even better. It’s an effort that’s worth getting behind and every provincial HR association in the country should take a serious look at what’s happening in B.C. and consider getting on board.
