Benefits of employee relations benchmarking: From insight to action

Employee relations (ER) data holds valuable insights for HR teams, containing data points that reveal performance trends across organisations and help identify stand-out performers and departments that may need more HR support. However, these statistics will only be insightful if benchmarks are in place to extract meaningful information from the data.

For example, a department with higher-than-average grievances or long-term sickness rates may indicate low team trust or poor management. Analysing employee relations data against benchmarks is key to surfacing insights that enable HR to investigate and discover the root causes of such issues.

Once HR has visibility of the appropriate analytics, they can proactively identify the most effective strategies to address problems and develop a culture of learning and continuous improvement across the organisation.

Embracing benchmarking in employee relations is a strategic tool that empowers businesses to adapt, evolve and stay competitive in a dynamic landscape. Without proper ER benchmarking, key insights may remain hidden. Read this blog to learn about the benefits of benchmarking analysis in employee relations.

What is benchmarking in employee relations?

Benchmarking in employee relations involves identifying specific statistics that will give you the best meaningful insights into the overall health and performance of your organisation. This may be defined by internal requirements or industry best practise.

Identifying benchmarks both internally and from comparable organisations within your industry will give you parameters within which you can measure how your organisation and departments are performing. This process serves various essential purposes for HR professionals:

Identifying best practices: By internally comparing practices and outcomes, organisations can proactively identify and address problems. This process highlights areas for improvement in conflict resolution, communication, and overall employee satisfaction.

Through these insights, internal benchmarking can function as a pre-emptive strategy that enables early issue resolution before they escalate. External benchmarking analysis also helps organisations compare their activity profile with that of similar organisations to give insight and understanding as to how best practice initiatives may work for them.

Highlighting areas for ER case management improvement: Standards can be established to assess case management processes, including average case durations, the number of cases escalating to formal procedures, and the case throughput per team member. The identification of departments where cases, investigations, or suspensions take longer than in others can facilitate process improvement through the sharing of best practices.

Utilising data in this manner empowers HR to learn from successful initiatives. Devoting time to reviewing this analysis allows them to carefully examine the challenges they face and more effectively strategize how to optimize case management processes in the future. By continuously expanding their knowledge, HR can find solutions more rapidly and ultimately reduce the overall cost of serving employee relations matters.

Create a culture of openness and trust: By taking a proactive approach to improvements, based on benchmarking data, HR professionals can cultivate an environment where employees feel genuinely valued because they will see positive change. This approach can encourages open communication and trust, leading to effective conflict resolution and increased employee happiness and commitment.

Improve compliance at work: Through benchmarking analysis, HR can optimise policies and procedures to ensure that their workplace operates in line with relevant laws and regulations. This helps organisations avoid fines, build a strong reputation, utilise resources wisely, remain legally secure, and unlock opportunities in markets that are crucial for a company’s growth.

By leveraging the power of benchmarking data, HR professionals can identify areas for improvement, proactively implement effective measures, and foster a culture of transparency, integrity, and mutual trust. Seizing this opportunity will undoubtedly result in a more harmonious and productive work environment for all involved. With benchmarking as their guide, HR can navigate the path to meaningful change and cultivate an atmosphere where employees thrive and contribute to long-term success.

Transform your strategic decision-making with empower®

Organisations should prioritise benchmarking key employee relations statistics and ensuring that they have the necessary technology and analytics in place to accurately report on these metrics. Collaborating with experienced consultants and industry experts helps overcome challenges related to effectively analysing this data, enabling HR to swiftly gain valuable insights for making data-driven decisions.

empower® analytics creates visibility across your organisation in all aspects of people management, aiding you in understanding your ER challenges. Get in touch to find out how you can tap into our team of insight analysts, who will also, with your permission, undertake external benchmarking. This involves comparing your organisation’s activity profile with similar organisations and sharing insightful comparators.