HR Business Process Improvement
We hear a lot about business process improvement (BPI) in operational areas. But what about service areas like HR? How would you measure success?
As with any BPI effort, a good place to start is determining what your key metrics are. Examples of good HR metrics include:
- Cycle Time. How long does it take to process requests, such as filling positions or scheduling people for training? Redundant, cumbersome, or unnecessary steps negatively affect cycle time. This is where you really need to ask the “Why are we doing it this way?” questions.
- Quality. What are your error rates (e.g., incorrect information given or people having to contact HR more than once to get a right answer)? Technology can certainly help you in this area, particularly if you are re-entering data by hand that exists electronically. This is also where you need to be sure that your employees are well trained in and adhering to your quality assurance processes.
- Cost Per Transaction. Of course a lot of BPI efforts focus on cost, which can be important. However, cost must be balanced with quality. After all, you could reduce your cost-per-hire to nearly $0 by hiring the first person who applies. Think of this as cost per transaction while maintaining quality.
- Handling the Most Important Work First. This involves determining which tasks have the highest value to the organization and reducing the amount of low value work you do.
To determine the success of your efforts it is important to establish your metrics before beginning BPI so you can measure your improvements. You can increase your success if you take steps to ensure that process improvement becomes an ongoing part of your culture rather than an event.
If you are interested in learning more about BPI in your organization, please contact
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