Hitting the “Wall” in HR Measurement⁵

Type “HR measurement” into a search engine, and you will get more than 900,000 results. Scorecards, summits, dashboards, data mines, data warehouses, and audits abound. The array of HR measurement technologies is daunting. The paradox is that even when HR measurement systems are well implemented, organizations typically hit a “wall.” Despite ever more comprehensive databases and ever more sophisticated HR data analysis and reporting, HR measures only rarely drive true strategic change.⁶

Figure 1-2 shows how, over time, the HR profession has become more elegant and sophisticated, yet the trend line doesn’t seem to be leading to the desired result. Victory is typically declared when business leaders are induced or held accountable for HR measures. HR organizations often point proudly to the fact that bonuses for top leaders depend in part on the results of an HR “scorecard.” For example, incentive systems might make bonuses for business-unit managers contingent on reducing turnover, raising average engagement scores, or placing their employees into the required distribution of 70 percent in the middle, 10 percent at the bottom, and 20 percent in the top.