What are the usual key metrics in HR controlling?

The most important key metrics include the turnover rate, the sickness rate, overtime, staff costs per employee and training hours. They help you spot trends early and take decisions based on data. Example: if the sickness rate rises in one department, that can point to overload or poor working conditions.

Which instruments belong to operational HR controlling?

Operational HR controlling is about the view on day-to-day work. Typical instruments are key metric systems, planned vs. actual comparisons, forecasts and dashboards. Tools like these make deviations easy to spot – for instance when overtime or absences rise – and let you derive concrete measures.

Which methods are there in HR controlling?

There are quantitative methods (working with figures such as costs or absences) and qualitative methods (for example employee surveys). On top of that, companies use forecasts and scenarios to think ahead. That makes it clear how staffing needs, costs or motivation could change.

HR controlling: tasks, key metrics and methods

What is HR controlling?

HR controlling is one part of controlling. It is about collecting all the important information about employees, analysing it and making it usable for decisions.

The aim is to organise the deployment of staff efficiently and sustainably.

An example:

If a company finds that many employees are resigning, HR controlling can show the reasons behind it. Measures can be derived from that - better onboarding or more training.

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Digital systems can make these analyses easier. Instead of maintaining spreadsheets by hand, tools like clockin deliver the most important key metrics automatically. That way the people responsible keep an overview without getting lost in a chaos of data.

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What does HR controlling cover?

HR controlling covers all tasks that deal with planning, steering and checking around employees. These include:

Workforce planning: How many employees are needed? With which qualifications?
Workforce scheduling: Who works when and where?
Cost control: Which staff costs arise? Are they within the planned range?
Development and training: Which courses are needed?
Analytics and reports: Which key metrics show the current situation in the company?

In short: HR controlling helps you keep an overview of all the important staffing topics.

Staffing needs and staffing requirement planning

An important part of HR controlling is staffing requirement planning. It answers the question: How many employees with which qualifications are needed at which point in time?

A distinction is made between:

Quantitative staffing needs: How many employees are needed? Example: A home care service knows that five additional care workers are necessary to look after its patients.
Qualitative staffing needs: Which qualifications do the employees need to bring with them? Example: An IT company does not just need developers, but specifically specialists for cyber security.

Requirement planning helps companies react in good time. That way bottlenecks can be avoided – for instance when several employees retire at the same time. At the same time it avoids overstaffing, which causes unnecessary costs.

Digital systems like clockin support this with data on actual workload. Working hours, overtime or absences allow conclusions about whether additional staff are needed.

Tasks in HR controlling

Typical tasks in HR controlling are:

Planning: Determining needs with foresight. Example: a trades business knows that several journeymen will retire in 2 years. Controlling shows how many new people have to be trained by then.
Steering: Monitoring assignments, costs and projects.
Checking: Spotting deviations, e.g. higher absences in one department.
Advising: Explaining to managers, in plain terms, what the figures mean.

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Key metrics in HR controlling

Key metrics are the heart of HR controlling. They make developments visible and comparable.

Important key metrics in HR controlling are, for example:

Turnover rates: How many employees leave the company per year?
Sickness rate: How many days of absence are there in relation to total working hours?
Overtime rate: How often do teams work more than planned?
Cost per employee: How high are the average staff costs?
Training hours: How much time is invested in training?

Example: if turnover rises, HR controlling shows early on that action is needed - through an employee conversation or better career prospects, for instance.

Digital support in day-to-day work

Instead of laboriously entering data by hand, modern systems offer a smart alternative. With clockin, working hours, absences and shift schedules can be managed digitally with ease. The tool automatically delivers meaningful key metrics: from the overtime rate to the turnover rate. That way HR managers keep an overview at all times and save valuable time in controlling.

Instruments of operational HR controlling

Operational HR controlling means taking a look at day-to-day work. Here figures and tools are used to steer ongoing operations.

Typical instruments are:

Key metric systems: Dashboards or reports with the most important values.
Forecasts: Projections, e.g. how sickness levels could develop.
Planned vs. actual comparison: Matching planned values against actual results.
Balanced scorecard: A system that includes not only finances but also employee and process goals.

Methods in HR controlling

The field keeps developing. Digital tools in particular are making HR controlling ever more complex.

For managers there are many options for further training:

Seminars on HR key metrics and reporting
Training in data analytics and controlling software
Certificate courses at universities and academies
Specialist literature, conferences and networks

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Conclusion

HR controlling is a central instrument for every company. It makes visible how employees are deployed, where costs arise and where the opportunities lie. With the right key metrics, methods and instruments, problems can be spotted early and solutions developed.

Through further training, HR managers stay up to date – and make sure that staffing decisions are taken on a solid basis.

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