What is HR reporting

Human resources reporting (HR reporting) is the system a business uses to consolidate various HR data into a single report. These reports are used to evaluate key metrics such as onboarding, attendance, turnover rate, retention rates, and more.

HR reports impact the business as a whole—the metrics inform decision-making for the recruitment processes that will identify and attract the right people to your company.

The HR department tracks and analyzes key metrics to keep the business running smoothly, but when you look at them separately, you only get a portion of the picture. Compiling multiple HR analytics into a single report makes the information more digestible and enables teams to make informed decisions.

Types of HR reports and metrics to track

There are endless combinations of key performance indicators (KPIs) that you can pull for an HR report. It’s best to start with HR metrics that will inform your company’s HR goals. If you have a problem you’d like to solve, then an HR report may help you identify potential areas for growth.

Let’s break down some of the more popular HR reports:

Employee performance management reports

Possible metrics evaluated: employee goals, employee productivity, important skill sets, competencies, employee feedback, and review scores.

An employee performance report enables you to evaluate how well your employees are performing, what might prevent them from doing their best, and how you can improve overall performance management. This data can also help you identify ways to boost employee engagement.

Attendance and paid time off (PTO) reports

Possible metrics evaluated: leave reports, absenteeism, time spent working, and overtime hours.

Attendance and PTO reports can help HR teams track how many paid days off employees have, what their leave balances are, which employees are available to cover shifts as necessary, and any loss of payment from employee absence.

Attrition reports

Possible metrics evaluated: employee turnover rate and total employee headcount for different periods.

Attrition (or turnover) reports let you know how long the average employee stays on your crew. These reports are an excellent way to review your employee satisfaction, employee retention rates, and overall hiring decisions.

Attrition reports typically look at the number of employees on your team at various times and the amount of time each employee stays with the company.

Since recruitment is a major HR process, these reports are extremely handy for fine-tuning the task of finding employees that are more likely to fit in with the company environment.

Employee learning reports

Possible metrics evaluated: course ratings, training costs, learner progress, course categories, trainer ratings, and learning materials.

Some companies dedicate a fair amount of resources toward skills development for current and new employees. Employee learning reports are an effective way for HR professionals to measure how well these programs are working and whether they’re helping the company grow as a whole.

Payroll reports

Possible payroll metrics evaluated: number of payable days, expected working days, actual working days, hourly rate, hours worked, and loss of pay.

Most HR teams compile some kind of payroll report to help their business evaluate overall cash flow and have everything ready for tax season. Payroll reporting is nothing new, but that doesn’t mean that you have to keep using the same old system for your compensation reports. (But we’re getting ahead of ourselves.)

Recruiting reports

Possible metrics evaluated: total number of applicants, types of applications, total number of interviews, types of interviews, interview duration, offer decline rates, offer decline reasons, sources for finding candidates, cost per hire, and interview ratings.

A recruiting report harnesses multiple HR KPIs because the hiring process is constantly evolving. When compiled effectively, a recruiting report can tell you whether your LinkedIn job page is bringing in the best candidates, what your recruitment costs are, and everything else in between.

Many companies find recruitment to be a serious problem area, especially in light of the Great Resignation. Recruitment reports provide a roadmap to help HR teams pick the best possible new hires.

How to prepare HR reports

There’s no need to open a new Excel spreadsheet. Modern HR software has made HR reports easier than ever, so you can focus more on creating initiatives to solve any problems revealed by the data collected.

Human resource management shouldn’t be a chore, which is why many HR software systems come stacked with premium analytics tools for simple reporting. Many of these solutions offer an easy-to-use HR dashboard that makes it easy to review real-time data.

Additionally, many HR reporting tools come stacked with templates that make customizing your HR reports to fit your company’s goals and needs easy.

How HR reporting benefits companies

The age of “going with your gut” in making HR-related decisions is over—it’s time to go with the data. HR reporting provides businesses with a clear roadmap to improve their HR processes.

HR reporting is something that should be adopted by small businesses and enterprises alike, especially since HR software solutions make the tools accessible for companies of all sizes and budgets.

These reports will save you time, sweat, and money because they’ll help you figure out better ways to support your team and eliminate any workplace issues.