Benchmarks continue to be an immensely strong aspect of building and optimizing HR technology and processes. Comparing your HR costs, staffing, and service levels to peer-comparator data in total and by function provides meaningful diagnosis of where you are today and roadmaps that take you where you need to go tomorrow.

Data-driven assessments are important, but leading with your specific employee needs will allow us to accurately assess what your company needs and how that compares to companies your size. While using benchmarks and data is crucial, we do not hold that as an absolute standard. We use them as a tool, not as an end all be all.

A few examples of those benchmarks we take into account are:

• Benefits as a percentage of salary – The cost of all employer-provided benefits divided by your employee’s gross annual salary.
• Cost-per-hire – The costs involved in hiring a new employee (advertising fees, agency fees, employee referrals, travel costs, etc).
• Employee engagement rate – Measured through employee surveys and usually most effective when broken down into different levels, whether it be age, gender, etc.
• HR-to-employee ratio – This provides a manageable way of comparing HR staffing levels among companies.
• Healthcare costs per employee – This indicates the amount an employer is spending on healthcare for employees and is mainly used for budgeting and reporting total rewards.
• Turnover rate – The rate at which employees enter and leave an organization during the year.