Ultimate Performance: Measuring Human Resources at Work

Metric One: Percent of Internal Hires

Value. The Percent of Internal Hires metric can take advantage of data that you already have but may not have used as a management tool. Measuring the amount of internal transfers that occur is historically the first (and easiest) indicator to calculate. It will give an indicator of how likely an internal candidate will be considered for a position. This is the baseline figure that likely will predict employee attitudes to internal mobility and a culture of considering internal candidates first.

Depending on your business, the magic definition of what is a healthy number for the organization will vary. For example, in retail, most of the workforce may be entry-level, short-term employees. A healthy percentage of internal transfers is probably low. If you are a skill-oriented, intellectual capital focused organization, your fluidity number is likely high.

There are a few different ways of cutting the percentage-of-hires number, including: enterprise-wide, or by specific business area.

Audience. This is a basic statistic that is probably being examined monthly, which is appropriate. Assessing internal hires monthly or quarterly should be helpful when looking at the source of hire metrics.

When one tracks fluidity across the enterprise, one can assess the openness of the company to its own internal labor market. If the percentage of people hired internally is far lower than one would expect for the company type and size, then this data can be ...