Happy Valentines (Metrics) Day

doakes February 14, 2008

Roses are Red,

Violets are Blue,

I love Metrics,

How about you?

Last month I blogged that you either like numbers or you don’t. In honor of the big day today, I will also blog that you either like Valentine’s Day or you don’t! I find the day extremely stressful as I attempt to figure out how to “outdo” what I did last year, or “outdo” what my colleagues and friends are doing. According to 123holiday.net, the history of Valentine’s Day is shrouded in mystery. It is believed that the first Valentine ever sent was by St. Valentine himself, while in prison. While there are lots of legends, one thing we know is that EVERYONE has universally adopted this day, whether you like it or not! If only Metrics could be so lucky!

While pondering what to get my loved one, I thought I would Google for some ideas. Using Google, and the key words “Valentine’s Day”, I received 23,900,000,000 results in .08 seconds. Wow, who knew! One thing leads to another, and I found myself Googling staffing terms as a comparison:

HR Metrics: 239,000 results in .09 seconds

HR Analytics: 206,000 results in .17 seconds

HR Dashboard: 309,000 results in .21 seconds

Why is this relevant? Well, besides being a diversion from actually making a decision on what to do for Valentine’s Day, I got to thinking of the murkiness and history of Metrics. It seems like Metrics have been around forever; we all have been talking about it, attending conferences, making a living from it, and many of us have implemented a metrics program to some degree. Google has taken analytics to an all new level and wouldn’t it be great to be able to get our own Metrics at a click of a button. (Ok, allow me to dream for just a moment.) The Google results are proof that we are interested in Metrics and while Metrics don’t have the same results as Valentines Day, I bet in 1 year from now, those results will be much higher and many more of you will have moved Metrics along in its life cycle. We just need to embrace the “day” and make it simple.

So in the spirit of the day, (and in addition to taking care of your loved ones), pick one metric that you have, any actual piece of data, and send that to your staffing team as well as your leadership team, as proof that metrics are important to you and to them. Let them know you can’t wait to share with them the next piece of data. Make metrics simple, yet meaningful and one day we all may like numbers! Who knows, eventually, with everyone’s help, we will re-write the history of metrics and it will have its own day!

Until next time…Happy Metrics (Valentines) Day to everyone.

Posted in Human Resources Analytics, HR Metrics, HR Analytics, HR Scorecards