Published on May 9, 2016
Contrary to some of my HR friend’s expectations, this is not an acronym for KRA (Key Results Area) but this is a question that some of the CEOs might have for their HR people. Hopefully none of you are in that list.
HR has definitely come a long way in the last two decades. But is that enough? Do we need to be complacent about our achievements? Is that enough to ensure we get the same treatment that our CFOs and CMOs are getting? Can we showcase something to our CEOs to prove we are adding directly to the bottom-line?
Something !!! Directly to bottom line !!!
Dave Ulrich says – “HR departments are increasingly expected to operate as a business within a business rather than as a disconnected and isolated set of HR practices”.
He adds, “The emerging vision of an HR department, simply stated, is to create value for key stakeholders”.
But how to do it? How can HR that’s long been existing as a service function can even think of becoming a profit centre?
It’s extremely difficult but not impossible. Let me try to explain.
Let’s start with Talent Acquisition. A survey conducted by LinkedIn, reveals that if the experience of the candidate who comes to your office premises for interview is poor or moderate as compared to a Good or an excellent experience – the cost per hire is expected to be $125 per hire as compared to $62 per hire. Simple reason being that a bad experienced candidate is more likely to spoil your reputation in the market and it is quite likely that better candidates will not be attracted towards your employer brand.
Cost of bad hire is usually estimated to be at least 6 months CTC over a period of 3 months. Through an effective interviewing technique coupled with a robust reference/antecedent verification mechanism we can definitely reduce this cost drastically.
ROI on Training – you will fret who is gonna do it. How many companies are able to calculate? How to do it – Donald Kirkpatrick? Why to get into this territory and soil our hands. How to measure behavioural training’s before & after impact on bottom-line?
The answers are available and you will find solutions en-route provided we are willing to tread that path – a path that has been less travelled. I recently concluded a project to evaluate ROI. The journey was so tedious that many a times the project owners told me to conclude either which ways by whatever means. However we continued with increased efforts from both sides and eventually achieved the results. The outcome was not much of a relevance because the assumptions were too many – but in the course of treading that path, we came out a beautiful model to make sure next year, we do not go through this grind and all the before and after evaluation are thought through with specific formats, BARS and above all a meaningful TNI.
Once you have enough Determination, Dedication and Devotion – the Delivery would happen… Even if you do not reach your destination – I am sure you will get the answer for that question – Kyun Raken Aapko ?