Human Resources OKR Examples

OKR is a fancy productivity framework with a long pedigree — its foundation can be traced through Intel’s Andrew Grove to Peter Drucker and his Management by Objectives (MBO). Nowadays, it is the productivity tool of choice in almost all Silicon Valley enterprises and tech companies, sometimes reaching into previously unrelated industries.

Human resources (HR) is an integral part of any organization, managing a company’s most important asset — its people. As such, it is essential to set clear and effective goals for HR teams that align with the company’s overall objectives. We already have similar crash courses on Engineering OKRs, Marketing OKRs, Finance OKRs, and Sales OKRs — and in this article, we will provide some Human Resources OKR examples and some insight into the challenges you might face.

What are OKRs?

Objectives and Key Results (OKRs) are popular for setting goals and desired results in an organization. At its most basic, it can be described as “I will {objective} as measured by {key result}” and serves as a way to align and focus every employee in the company towards several strategic goals.

In addition, focusing on measurable key results provides a way to track progress toward said goals and measure success more reliably. Combined with JIRA or another task-management software, this allows for much easier and more precise real-time progress reports.

The final standout feature of the OKR framework is ambition — by setting goals higher than what is achievable given the current situation and practices, employees become more motivated and encouraged to find new solutions. However, it is important not to punish them for failing to achieve ambitious goals.

NOTE: If you want to learn more about OKRs, we highly recommend you refer to the OKR Guide on our blog.

OKR Process in the Human Resources Department

Human Resources department is a bit peculiar when it comes to OKRs — namely due to their work being an ongoing process with few outstanding milestones. So it’s better not to focus on tasks accomplished — since they won’t change quarter-to-quarter — but instead on improving current processes and implementing new ones.

For example, implementing TeamMood’s employee mood monitoring system would allow you to quantify the current atmosphere in the workplace, which in turn could be turned into a measurable Key Result for the HR department. Alternatively, during a big hiring spree, HR could have an OKR focusing on the talent acquisition funnel — namely, the quality of potential employees who passed their initial interviews.

You have to be a bit flexible when it comes to OKRs in the HR department, but it isn’t as difficult as it may seem at first. Just remember to review your OKRs during regular check-ins and don’t be afraid to prune the ones that aren’t worth it.

Also, HR has a wide range of tasks, so separating them into separate categories makes sense.

OKRs for Recruitment

Recruitment is the key aspect of the HR department work, so it would make sense to base most of your OKRs around it. Just keep in mind that recruitment doesn’t quite end the moment your new employee signs the contract — there are also onboarding, mentorship, and other programs you need to consider to prevent employee churn and improve retention.

• [O] Develop an effective recruiting mechanism
  • [KR] Reduce the average lead time of hiring a new employee for a vacancy from 50 to 25 days
  • [KR] Increase the percentage of accepted proposals from 80% to 90%
  • [KR] Reduce hiring costs from $1,400 to $1,100.
  • [KR] Increase the rate of closed positions based on recommendations from 5% to 20%

• [O] Kickstart the new company branch
  • [KR] Hire 5 new employees (2 developers, 1 HR manager, 2 marketers)
  • [KR] Provide onboarding for the new employees
  • [KR] Commence a poll one week later regarding the onboarding quality, and hit at least 75% satisfaction rate.

• [O] Implement a mentoring program
  • [KR] Design a mentoring program for new employees and current employees that are interested in promotions;
  • [KR] Have at least 10% of the current senior employees signed onto the program as mentors. Discuss potential bonuses and incentives with the upper management.
  • [KR] Make sure that every new employee has a mentor assigned to them for at least their first three months.

OKRs for HR Business Partners

HR Business Partner is a relatively new role in the company structure, receiving widespread use in the pandemic and post-pandemic world. Basically, their job is to organize massive company-wide transitions that impact a lot of employees.

• [O] Launch Remote Working
  • [KR] Poll the team leads on the possibility of remote working;
  • [KR] Obtain approval for $1000 as a one-time remote working allowance;
  • [KR] Implement a remote working program, including time and attendance guidelines and a security policy.

OKRs for Corporate Culture

Corporate culture and mood are the second most important aspect for HR since it directly impacts employee retention and churn.

• [O] Improve engagement and motivation of employees
  • [KR] Increase the engagement rate of team members from 60% to 85%
  • [KR] Ensure a response rate to employee requests of 100%
  • [KR] Reduce complaints per month from 5 to 2

• [O] Maintain a positive mood at the office
  • [KR] Implement TeamMood as a corporate mood tracker and hit at least a 4.5 score on average;
  • [KR] Send out a weekly anonymous poll where employees can offer suggestions and complaints regarding office culture.
  • [KR] Conduct weekly parties with pizza and games after a workday.

• [O] Increase employees engagement and satisfaction
  • [KR] Increase the employee eNPS (Employee Net Promoter Score) from 6 to 7.5
  • [KR] Decrease employee turnover from 20% to 5%
  • [KR] Increase productivity of all team members by 50%

• [O] Establish and promote the company’s values
  • [KR] Interview all the heads and team leads on the culture and values of the company
  • [KR] Create a complete and understandable picture of values
  • [KR] Conduct conversations during weekly team meetings about the company’s values and how to apply them

OKRs for Compensation

Wages and compensation are the main driving point for the vast majority of employees — and it’s important to make sure that they are treated fairly. Or, at least, feel like it.

• [O] Create an effective compensation program
  • [KR] Analyze compensation programs of 10 similar companies
  • [KR] Based on the analysis, develop a compensation program for the company
  • [KR] Achieve 75% usage of the introduced program

OKRs for OKRs

Everyone loves a bit of good old recursion — so why not design some OKRs for implementing OKRs? This actually may make more sense than you think — in some corporate structures that will keep an eye on the OKR implementation

• [O] Achieve OKR implementation among all the teams
  • [KR] Provide OKR training sessions for all team members;
  • [KR] Provide necessary OKR literature and materials for self-study
  • [KR] Achieve at least 65% completion of the first OKR cycle

Conclusion

OKRs and Human Resources don’t seem to go together at first glance. However, if you think a bit outside the box and focus on the spirit rather than the letter of the framework, you’ll realize that OKRs can be an excellent fit for their workflow. And with the examples above, you should now be able to easily design OKR for HR department.

Also, if your company is adopting OKRs and has reached the point where they are assigning tactical department-level Objectives, you should consider a proper OKR Dashboard. For example, OKR Board for Jira — a powerful all-in-one OKR plugin that streamlines and automates the OKR management process. With it, you can link your OKR Objectives and Jira Epics, which will automate a lot of busywork and let you monitor your teams’ progress on a real-time Dashboard. You will also be able to link different projects on the same Roadmap, create executive reports in a single click, and spend more time doing your actual tasks. Start the free 30-day trial or request a demo right now!