Reports and Statistics

How to measure the main KPI indicators in human resources

Discover the wide variety of human resources KPI indicators provided by the Sesame HR personnel management software. Read us!

consultor

Isabel García

HR Consultant

indicators human resources

1 of April, 2025

Measuring results is an essential step for companies that want to grow and develop over time. For this reason, establishing HR KPI indicators is vital to maximize the company’s human capital. This also allows to achieve strategic goals of the human resources department.

In this same sense, thanks to specialized programs like Sesame HR, human resources KPI indicators are always within your reach. You can easily implement them and get the information you need. In this article, we will delve deeper into this topic and you will learn what KPIs our software offers.

What are human resources KPI indicators?

The KPIs, are initials in English that stand for: Key Performance Indicator. They are basically performance indicators. In other words, a unit of measure that is used to know the results of specific actions or activities. Therefore, they work as a reference to evaluate processes and detect deficiencies or successes of the company.

These have the ability to measure the effectiveness of the processes that relate to recruitment, training, and performance evaluation, among others. Thanks to this, we can determine objectives and know, at any time, if we are performing the most effective actions to achieve them.

Characteristics of human resources KPI indicators

There is an easy rule to use to determine what effective KPIs should be. In theory, these should be SMART: Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, Timely.

  • Specific: The indicator should refer to a specific task or action. For example, achieving a 3% reduction in absenteeism rate.
  • Measurable: If it cannot be measured, we cannot proceed to interpret data or use specific instruments for this.
  • Achievable: The goals we set for each KPI must be achievable with the conditions we have.
  • Relevant: It is essential to choose metrics that are important to the company and that provide valuable information.
  • Timely: Finally, each indicator must be time-limited and also be evaluated and analyzed on a regular basis.

How to measure a KPI in human resources?

The human resources KPI indicators will accompany you over a long time, as they work to visualize the evolution of your company, among other things.

That’s why it’s very important to define them properly from the start. We must take into account four fundamental aspects:

  • Measurement unit. It’s about establishing what we need to measure. It could be the percentage of times an employee is absent due to sickness or the average cost of hiring.
  • Goal. Human resources indicators allow us to achieve goals. Therefore, we must set one. For example, we could try to reduce sickness absences to 3%.
  • Source. From the beginning, it’s essential to know where we will extract the information to complete our KPIs. We can do this from a CRM or from human resources software.
  • Frequency. It should also be defined how often you will review each indicator and establish a frequency.

What types of KPIs exist?

Absenteeism rate

The absenteeism rate in a company is usually calculated by dividing the number of working days that the employee was absent by the total number of working days.

Employee satisfaction

The satisfaction with employee benefits is measured through a worker commitment survey. These can be important to reduce employee turnover.

Absence cost

The total cost of absence is measured covering the cost of employees, replacement cost, and absence costs.

Employee productivity rate

Even though labor productivity can be a complicated metric to calculate, it says something about the growth capacity concerning the production of human capital.

Employee engagement index

The employee engagement can be measured through attitude or commitment surveys. Good employee engagement predicts much more efficient productivity.

It also provides optimal customer service, a lower level of turnover, and other important and positive results.

Strategies to manage HR KPI indicators

Effectively managing the HR KPI indicators in the field of human resources is fundamental for the success and development of a company. Here we present some strategies that can aid in the effective management of HR KPIs:

  1. Set clear goals: allows aligning the activities of the human resources department with the broader organizational objectives.
  2. Select the right KPIs: it’s important to identify the indicators that are most relevant to the company and that truly reflect its human resources performance.
  3. Implement tracking and analysis systems: using appropriate tools and systems to collect, analyze, and monitor data related to HR KPIs facilitates decision-making.
  4. Perform regular reviews and adjustments: this ensures that the KPIs remain relevant and effective as the company’s needs evolve.

By implementing these HR KPI indicator management strategies, you can improve your ability to measure, analyze and improve the performance of your human capital, which in turn contributes to the overall success of the organization.

Advantages of digitizing your HR KPI indicators with Sesame HR

The digitization of HR KPI indicators with a software like Sesame HR offers a number of significant advantages that can boost company efficiency and performance. Here are some key advantages:

  1. Instant access to updated data: facilitates informed decision-making in real time.
  2. Process automation: reduces the administrative burden of human resources staff.
  3. Greater accuracy and consistency: human errors associated with manual data entry are minimized.
  4. Advanced analysis and data visualization: allow to identify trends, patterns and areas of improvement more effectively, facilitating decision-making.
  5. Greater flexibility and scalability: allows to easily adapt to the changing needs and demands of the business as the company grows and develops.
  6. Security and regulatory compliance: offers advanced security measures.
  7. Optimization of time and resources: allows staff to focus on more strategic activities and high value-added.

Undoubtedly, digitizing HR KPI indicators with Sesame HR offers a number of significant advantages that can contribute to improving the efficiency of the human resources department.

Iris Serrador

People Partner | LinkedIn | | Web | +post

Customer-oriented, both internally and externally, specializing in the definition and implementation of HR policies, as well as talent management, recruitment, and retention. Strong leadership, communication, negotiation, organization, and team coordination skills. Over 12 years of experience in Human Resources.

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