Why You Should Be Measuring Quality of Hire

Last year, staffingindustry.com reported that 69% of survey respondents are not measuring quality of hire (QoH). Yet, according to the same survey, "Of the companies that measure quality of hire, 85 percent believe doing so has a positive impact on hiring quality and nearly half believe there is a significant impact." This information was obtained from a Hudson RPO and HRO Today Institute global benchmarking report.

Prior to the last five years, quality of hire wasn't at the forefront when it came to HR metrics. Job matching service The Ladders published a report citing that "difficulties like measuring performance over long periods of time, tying the resulting analysis back to recruitment processes or sources, and collaborating across organizational boundaries have created implementation obstacles for large and small companies alike" when it comes to measuring quality of hire. The recent surge in quality of hire importance may be due to the increase in competition for top talent. Though the predicted Baby Boomer retirement surge has held off a little longer than originally expected, businesses are finding it increasingly difficult to attain and retain high performers. Coupled with the plethora of valuable talent management systems now at our disposal, taking advantage of the benefits that measuring quality of hire can bring to the table is just plain common sense.

The Ladders report also provided several metrics that are used to measure and analyze quality of hire:

Key Quality of Hire Measures:

• Hiring Manager Surveys

• New Hire Surveys

• Retention/Attrition

• Performance Evaluations

• Promotions

• Number of First-Year Hires in High-Potential Programs

Analytical Potential:

• Assess the quality of new hires and of recruitment and onboarding processes

• Differentiate new-hire candidate sources

• Determine contribution to the company made by the recruitment function/individual recruiters

An HP saying, varied as it has been regurgitated over the years, is that you can't manage or improve what you don't measure. If you want to improve your quality of hire statistics, you need to take the time to implement a system to track and analyze performance.

Traci Kingery, PHR is an HR Professional and freelance writer based in the Midwest, specializing in immigration and talent management. When she's not improving unemployment, she keeps busy with her husband and four children.