HR Objectives and Key Results (HR OKRs) can be instrumental in setting specific, measurable, and result-oriented goals for the HR department. It becomes a guide for the department on its way to proper strategy implementation and improvement in personnel skills for the final success of the business.
Why HR OKRs?
HR OKRs is on of the vital HR tools that keeps your focus on what matters. Since objectives will be narrowed down to core deliverables critical for business success, one will be focused and off-running with newfound efficiency. So, progress will be easy to track, which means strategic swivels can be made with confidence. What follows is a transparent, accountable HR department in which everyone knows their role in accomplishing shared goals.
HR OKRs fill the gap between company goals and individual aspirations. Therefore, when employees are actively involved in setting goals and tracking progress toward such goals, they start creating absolute ownership.
Core HR OKRs Components
Objectives: Describe what HR wants to achieve within a specific period. These goals should be SMART: Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound.
Key Results: Specific, measurable targets that are the benchmark of goal achievement. The key result is to be SMART.
Efforts: The specific activities and tasks undertaken to achieve the key results.
For continuity and consistency, HR OKRs are implemented based on an annual or quarterly cycle to ensure proper HR performance management.
Benefits of HR OKRs:
Abstraction in overall Human Resource efficiency
- Increasing employee engagement and commitment
- Measurement culture establishment and accountability promotion
- Contribute to the overall success of a business
OKR helps the human resource department boost efficiency and sustainability for business growth.
HR OKRs vs. HR KPIs: What's the difference and how?
Similarities
Objective: Both seek to monitor and assess performance.
Measurability: Measurability of both is the due indicators used to measure the progress and results.
Focus: Both focus on achieving particular goals.
Differences
Scope: OKRs are generally meant for long-term and strategic objectives, whereas KPIs measure performance against short-term and much more operational objectives.
Flexibility: OKRs are flexible because they are dynamic. However, KPIs tend to be more fixed.
Usage: OKRs are essential tools for employees to envision and participate, but KPIs are strictly used for the assessment or evaluation of the performance of an individual or a team.
Examples:
HR Objective: Every year, increase the employee retention rate to 90%.
Key Findings
- Lower the turnover rate to 5% in 6 months.
- Increase the rate of participation in employee satisfaction surveys to 80%.
HR KPIs:
- Average time to hire a new employee.
- The average cost of training per employee.
- Percentage of employees engaging in professional development programs.
With that said, armed with an understanding of the differences between OKRs and KPIs, the HR department can leverage the two systems' effective performance in achieving strategy realization and strategic performance.
Best HR OKR practices
A good alignment of the HR OKRs with organizational OKRs would lead to optimization in performance. Through this, all HR activities will add value to the company by contributing to the general value goals.
After the setting of HR OKRs, sharing and cascading them among the related departments, such as Recruitment and L&D, is necessary. This will always ensure a coherent and positively effective collaboration throughout the implementation process.
Detailed Key Results (KRs) for each department need to be set in goals that require cross-departmental cooperation. The responsible group or person should thus be given the initiatives that would be necessary to achieve such KRs.
In addition, discussion at the leadership level should be conducted about the common goals. This will guarantee that the goals to be suggested are in an organization-wide direction and will secure agreement from all the stakeholders. Discussion for cross-functional collaboration within HR is also a prime consideration for securing high effectiveness.
To sum up:
- Align HR OKRs with Enterprise/Company OKRs.
- Share and deploy OKRs down the line to the dependent departments.
- Develop specific KRs and initiatives for all your goals.
- Discuss shared goals generally from the level of leadership.
Stimulate cross-functional work across HR functions. These are the steps for setting up HR OKRs that will contribute towards the accomplishment of the overall success of the business.
Top-down and bottom-up approach for implementing HR OKRs
OKR serves as a framework for setting strategic goals from both a top-down and a bottom-up direction.
In a top-down approach, an organization's annual goals would typically come from the board of directors or the executive team, and these are then cascaded down as specific Key Results by middle managers; often, this is through input from subordinates.
A bottom-up approach suggested input from members of the team, potentially aligning themselves with certain KRs and proposing initiatives that would contribute to the overall goals of the organization.
The fact is that success in implementing the OKR requires support in both directions. In this essence, there is a dire need for commitment. Leadership should support and commit resources to implement OKRs with their staff. Full participation is required from all levels of in-house employees. Employees of any level within the organization should be involved and informed briefly to supply proper motivation.
Elevate performance with the HR OKRs Handbook!
Each year presents more for HR departments that are arriving to take on. With innumerable projects on the to-do list, it is essential to find what's essential to keep your department effective and concentrated on top ideas.
This is where HR OKRs bring a comprehensive solution for you. Set the right objectives for your department and quickly identify priorities to focus only on the projects that will bring positive change.
This ready-made template will establish your priorities and performance. By linking your HR goals to the strategic objectives of the company, it focuses the efforts of your team on projects that will yield success. Download the HR OKRs Handbook today and create OKRs that take your HR department to the next level!
Download Hireforce Free HR OKRs Playbook to Get Help With:
- Identify clear strategic objectives
- Create effective action plans
- Substantiates any progress and underscores success
- Enhance Employee Performance
- Improve team engagement and motivation
Click here to download the HR OKRs Playbook and start on a path toward excellent people development in HR.
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