The role of HR has been a challenging one in recent months, with huge changes to working practices and increasing pressure to support isolated employees. Many organisations are now relying on People Teams more than ever to keep their workforces motivated and engaged to ensure success in this uncertain world.
Furthermore, there are strong links between an employee’s level of engagement and their productivity. A recent study conducted by Gallup found that on average sales increased by 20% when employee engagement, improved, therefore monitoring these metrics can be a key way for HR to demonstrate their ROI to a business and ensure wider profitability.
Below are a summary of the key employee KPIs that HR teams should be mindful of as we move to more permanent remote working in a post COVID-19 world.
Productivity
Time spent on tasks
Working remotely poses some productivity challenges for employees. To access the information, they need to complete their daily tasks, they are required to navigate multiple and often complex systems resulting in a significant amount of wasted time. This in combination with the repetitive administrative tasks they were already performing, such as responding to emails, can result in a decrease in productivity.
Monitoring the time employees take to perform tasks, can help HR to identify ‘roadblocks’ to productivity and implement solutions more quickly.
Wellbeing
Absenteeism and Overtime hours
Given the nature of a pandemic, it is inevitable that some employees may become ill and require time off either to recover or to quarantine, however, increased levels of absenteeism across an organisation outside of these reasons could be cause for concern.
A recent study conducted by Humley found that 31% of employees were struggling to balance their personal and work hours and were in many cases working overtime as a result. High levels of absenteeism and increased overtime could therefore be indicative of high levels of stress and ‘burnout’ in employees, negatively impacting wellbeing, and engagement.
Satisfaction
eNPS and Employee feedback
These are not new metrics to HR Teams and have formed a fundamental part of employee strategy for years. However, what is new is the isolation and disconnected nature of employees. Prior to the government restrictions, it was easy for managers and HR teams to gather feedback verbally or via ‘water cooler moments’. However, this approach is now more difficult, meaning potential issues or discontent could escalate and create bigger engagement and productivity challenges. More frequent surveys will play a fundamental role in keeping management connected with the day to day realities for their teams.
In conclusion, whilst the current climate has presented many challenges to HR and employees alike, by identifying and tracking key engagement metrics, they become opportunities to enrich the employee experience and ensure the success of an organisation.
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