The Human Resource department is constantly under pressure to ensure employees have the best experience and improve their performance. For instance, HR professionals should ensure the business culture is maintained by sourcing and hiring the right candidates. In addition, they should treat employees as valuable resources, offer the best working environment to keep them comfortable and satisfied, and come up with a performance management system that encourages collaborative teamwork to achieve all business objectives. 

With so many tasks to handle at the same time, HR professionals find it challenging to satisfactorily perform their duties. Fortunately, there are HR OKRs to help them understand what initiatives to prioritize to achieve all set objectives. So, what exactly are HR OKRs, and what benefits do they bring to your business? We give you a full understanding below, including HR OKRs examples to help you improve business performance and achieve great results. 

HR OKRs Meaning

Human Resource Objectives and Key Results (HR OKRs) are components of a solid goal-setting framework that help HR professionals measure their results. It enables you to establish HR objectives, monitor progress, and achieve your desired results to benefit the organization. Let’s break down OKRs in detail for full understanding. 

• Objectives: These are HR’s ambitious goals that aim to motivate employees to become better performers. Its purpose is to improve the quality of a product or process. 
• Key Results: These are metrics or performance indicators that help you understand how to achieve your objectives. They indicate your progress through numerical value or percentage.

Based on the definition above, HR OKRs help HR professionals track their progress while monitoring their performance objectives. HR OKRs enhance HR processes, thus making it easier for them to achieve set business goals. 

OKR vs KPI

Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) are performance metrics that evaluate an organization’s success in terms of output, quality, or quantity of an activity. On the other hand, Key Results (KRs) are also performance metrics that define the achievement of an objective (the O in OKR). Simply put, KPIs and KRs can be used interchangeably since they are both performance metrics that help HR understand what the business is trying to achieve. 

Benefits of HR OKRs

As mentioned earlier, HR OKRs help you set HR strategic goals. Below are other reasons why you should consider OKR for HR business partner and take your business to another level. 

1. Monitoring and Measuring Work Progress

HR OKRs help you easily set specific objectives and key results, thus prioritizing resource allocation. You can also track your performance and work progress and understand who is responsible for what. 

2. Articulate Goals

HR OKRs make it easier for you to set goals with your teams and understand what you are up against. This way, you can easily take measures to ensure seamless work performance and chive those set goals. 

3. Remain Focused

By setting clear and unrealistic goals, HR OKRs keep you disciplined in remaining focused on what to prioritize. Every team player will be on the same page, knowing what to do within a specified period to achieve a common goal. 

HR OKR Best Practices

 

1. Align Your OKRs With Business Objectives

You need to consider adding value to your business by aligning your HR OKR with business goals. This means you should start by having conversations among HR leaders to determine what objectives should be set for the year. This way, it will be easier for you to assign tasks within the HR department and ensure cross-functional collaboration. 

2. Understand What Contributes to a Good OKR

Besides focusing on growth and improvement, a good OKR should possess SMART features. This means that it should have key results that are Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant and Time-Bound for you to easily achieve all set business objectives. Understanding what contributes to a good OKR will help you fully benefit from this HR framework. 

3. Ensure You Have Strategic OKRs

If you want to push your business in the right direction using HR OKRs, ensure they are strategic. This means you should have a plan and announce your annual HR priorities. You should also schedule alignment workshop meetings to ensure seamless performance in achieving OKRs. Plus, have regular check-ins, review your OKRs to decide whether they are working, and take the necessary measures to remove any obstacles.

4. Have Quantifiable Key Results Per Objective

It is crucial to have a reasonable number of KR per objective to ensure your team remains focused on achieving set business objectives. On average, have 2-5 key results per objective to avoid overwhelming your task force. 

5. Give Each OKR a Percentage Value

Planning for your OKRs and assigning each a percentage value helps you stay in line with your prioritized daily activities. It will also be easier for you to determine the objectives achieved and what departments contributed the most. 

HR OKRs Examples

You probably must be wondering what HR OKRs look like in the HR department. Below are samples of HR OKRs covering different areas of the HR function. 

• Employee Engagement OKR Examples

Objective: Improve Employee Engagement

Key Results 1: Increase weekly check-ins participation by 70%-85%

Key Results 2: Enroll 30% of employees in wellness programs and encourage healthy eating habits

Key Results 3: Increase employee satisfaction score to 95%

• OKR Example of HR Operations

Objective: Ensure adequate HR compliance

Key Results 1: Achieve over 80% ratings in annual auditing of HR compliance

Key Results 2: Offer GDPR training to all staff members

Key Results 3: Resolve 90% of HR compliance-related issues within 2 business days

• Talent Acquisition OKR Examples

Objective: Become the employer of the year

Key Results 1: Improve your employer brand recognition from 15 points to 50 points

Key Results 2: Increase your offer acceptance rate to over 80%

Key Results 3: Achieve a 90% satisfaction rate in the employee onboarding process

Conclusion

You need an HR OKR template to start working with HR OKR in your organization. The template is tailored specifically for HR leaders to ensure effective communication in achieving all business goals. Keep in mind that there are numerous HR OKR templates, and it is crucial to find the best one for your business. Overall, HR OKRs can help your business move from its stagnancy state to growth. It encourages motivation and empowerment between teams by monitoring specific goals, thus ensuring your business culture thrives.