NED Podcast: HR Metrics -The Big Lie

More than ever before, human resources professionals are scrambling to collect and provide quantitative metrics to substantiate all sorts of initiatives. Many HR professionals spend time preparing analytics for the sake of being prepared with ‘data’ – metrics for the sake of metrics.

Dr. Steve McElfresh, our guest on NED this month, presents a compelling case that the real value of metrics is only achieved when combined with analytic, business oriented thinking. The development of HR Metrics can enable and support that approach to HR. But Metrics also can be, and too often is, delivered bereft of such thinking, in which case it is an empty suit, a façade that detracts from rather than enhancing HR’s credibility. What’s more, solid analytic, business-oriented thinking can be applied to great effect without formal metrics.

Dr. McElfresh is the Principal and Founder of HR Futures. He was also the President and CEO of Saratoga Institute, the leading organization providing HR-related benchmarking and performance analyses. Before Saratoga, Steve was the chief HR officer for SRI International (formerly known as Stanford Research Institute), Failure Analysis Associates, and Friden Alcatel.

He is a member of the Society for Psychologists in Management, the Academy of Management, the Forensic Expert Witness Association and the American Psychological Association. In addition, he is a moderator/facilitator for two HR YahooGroups (ROI Net and VPHR Forum) and has written editorials for the Business Journal. He is certified by SHRM as a Senior Human Resource Professional and was a charter member of SHRM’s National Panel for Human Capital Measurement and HR Metrics. He is in his eight year as Conference Chair for the Conference on Strategic HR Analytics and Metrics.

Steve has taught at the School of Management at Boston College and the Department of Psychology at the University of Massachusetts. He has served on the Boards of Directors or Advisory Boards of the Bay Area Executive Council, Pacific Graduate School of Psychology, the Forensic Expert Witness Association, and the Bay Area Organizational Development Network. He earned a Ph.D in organizational psychology from Boston College and a JD from the Santa Clara University School of Law.

About Joel Passen

Joel is the Head of Marketing at Newton Software, a technology company that designs applicant tracking software for small and medium-sized employers. Joel has been involved with the intersection of technology and recruiting his entire career. Follow Joel: Google+, Twitter.