in

OKRs That HR Professionals Should Consider

Human Resource management is a critical function in a business as it recruits and develops the most important resource, the people. Through HR, a company establishes a firm culture by providing high-quality training and providing a great workplace environment. 

Therefore, as a business leader, you should align your HR to your work ethics and the mission to ensure that the staff is focused and performs exceptionally. Notably, the HR department should understand the organizational objectives and develop strategies to help every team and employee contribute to them. 

The OKRs is an effective framework that could enhance performance and foster growth in your company within a short period. Below you will find everything you need to know about the HR framework and some OKR examples to look at. 

What are OKRs?

OKR stands for Objectives and Key Results. The HR would establish different objectives for different teams and departments that contribute to the general organizational objectives through the framework. 

The objectives that the HR set should be specific, measurable, accurate, realistic, and time-bound. For every objective that the HR makes, there should also be Key Results that are used to track the progress and measure each objective’s attainment. 

Usually, an objective has about three Key results, which should be quantitative and measurable. Having few Key Results for every objective would help the officers memorize them and focus on the most critical tasks. 

What are OKR Benefits?

  • Alignment- implementing a practical OKR framework ensures that all parties read from the same script and understand their roles towards a specific goal. 
  • Focus- Breaking down the organizational objectives for each HR officer will help them focus on specific tasks guided by the key results. 
  • Collaboration- Understanding what is expected of each officer makes it possible to interact and provide feedback on progress and required improvements.
  • Transparency- the OKR framework enables the assignment of specific tasks to individuals and teams. This way, the managers can easily tell the performing employees and those that need to improve.  This aspect is essential, especially in the reward system, as employees will be responsible for what they get. 

OKR Examples to Look At As HR Professional

Example 1

Objective: Increase employee engagement 

Key Results

  • Improve employee ratings from 3.5 to 5
  • Boost employee participation in retreats to 90% every quarter
  • Increase employee satisfaction score to 100%

Example 2

Objective: Improve diversity and inclusion

Key Results

  • Increase the diversity index for all leadership levels from 0.2 to 0.4
  • Ensure there is a 100% completion rate of online inclusion and diversity training for new hires within the first quarter.
  • Increase the employee satisfaction score for minorities from 0.3 to 0.7.

Example 3

Objective: Improve the Compensation competitiveness

Key Results

  • Increase the employee satisfaction score on benefits from 45% to 80%
  • Increase the salary competitiveness ratio to 1.5

Incorporating the OKR framework as a HR professional makes your work easier and focused. The strategy has proved effective in most of the successful companies with the appropriate implementation. Consult widely to come up with the best method that will boost organizational performance and culture. 

Written by Eric

37-year-old who enjoys ferret racing, binge-watching boxed sets and praying. He is exciting and entertaining, but can also be very boring and a bit grumpy.