As we always say, hope is not a strategy. Running a high-performing HR function requires more than intuition — it requires data.
Tracking the right HR Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) gives organizations a clear view into workforce health, uncovers risks before they escalate and guides decisions that strengthen culture and mitigate exposure. Whether you’re setting KPIs for the first time or refining an existing strategy, we’ll walk you through the most critical HR and employee relations metrics to track — and explain why they matter.
What Are HR KPIs?
HR KPIs are measurable values that evaluate how effectively HR teams are meeting strategic and operational goals. They allow leaders to monitor workforce trends, identify gaps and take action grounded in evidence.
For example, insights from HR Acuity’s Ninth Annual Employee Relations Benchmark Study set industry standards. Comparing your KPIs against these benchmarks reveals if your function is leading, lagging or aligned with peers. (Or, if you have HR Acuity, you get exclusive in-platform benchmarking to see how your org stacks up.)
What’s the Difference: HR KPIs vs ER KPIs
HR KPIs are broad measures of talent and workforce health, while ER KPIs focus specifically on how effectively workplace issues, complaints and investigations are addressed. Together, they create a comprehensive view of culture and organizational risk.
Why HR KPIs Matter
When consistently measured and applied, HR KPIs transform HR from a support function to a driver of business results. Here’s how:
- Align HR with business objectives: HR KPIs demonstrate how workforce initiatives directly advance enterprise priorities.
- Identify trends early: HR KPIs can help your team spot trust gaps or cultural hotspots before they escalate into headlines.
- Support data-driven decisions: HR KPIs empower you to move beyond instinct with evidence-based choices about policies, programs and staffing.
- Measure initiative effectiveness: HR KPIs help evaluate whether training, benefits or policies deliver the intended impact.
- Improve employee experience: HR KPIs can monitor engagement and reporting patterns to foster trust and inclusion.
- Mitigate risk: HR KPIs can expose compliance gaps and potential legal vulnerabilities before they cause problems for your people and organization.
Key HR KPIs to Track
When deciding which HR and ER KPIs to track, focus on metrics that shed light on employee experience, workplace culture and organizational risk.
We’ve rounded up some key suggestions we recommend monitoring to get a complete picture. But first, a quick disclaimer — the most important factor is consistency and reliability of your data. If you’re just getting started, your top priority should be tracking data consistently. Poor-quality data won’t reveal much, so it’s better to track a few metrics really well than to track many metrics right away. (Don’t worry — you’ll get there in time!)
Here are some key HR KPIs to track:
Case Volume per 1,000 Employees by Category
This KPI normalizes issue activity so HR can pinpoint cultural or team hotspots. Tracking it allows leaders to see which issue types occur most frequently and where interventions may be needed.
And no, it’s not enough to just track case volume — the category matters too. For example, are most of your cases serious offenses like harassment or discrimination? That insight gives you an invaluable view into the steps you need to take to strengthen and refine your workplace culture.
EEOC Cases per 1,000 Employees
This KPI measures the number of cases filed with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) relative to the size of your workforce.
Tracking this metric empowers you to spot potential trust gaps and compliance risks at a glance. When issues escalate externally, it’s a signal that employees may not fully trust internal processes — giving you a clear indicator of where your culture or policies need attention.
Issue‑to‑Case Ratio
This is a measurement of how many individual issues are reported relative to the number of formal cases opened. It helps HR understand the complexity of employee concerns. A higher ratio can indicate that multiple issues are being bundled together, pointing to systemic problems or the need for more thorough investigations.
Case Disposition (Substantiation Rate)
This metric shows the number of cases where an investigation finds evidence supporting the reported issue. A higher rate can highlight areas of risk or recurring problems, while a lower rate may suggest reports are often unverified or that preventive measures are working effectively.
Employee Relations Staffing Ratio
This KPI measures the size of your ER team relative to your total workforce. A healthy ratio ensures your team has the resources to handle cases efficiently and fairly. Comparing your ratio to industry benchmarks can reveal if you’re understaffed and strengthen your case when making resource requests to leadership.
Hotline Issues per 1,000 Employees
This metric indicates whether employees feel safe speaking up using your whistleblower hotline. A low rate may suggest hesitation to use reporting channels or a lack of communication about how to report issues. Tracking the overall rate is important, but you’ll also want to examine how many reports are submitted anonymously versus with a name — more on that next.
Named vs Anonymous Reports
This metric measures the ratio of named to anonymous reports collected through your whistleblower hotline. If you’re not tracking it, you’re missing an opportunity to gauge psychological safety and trust.
A healthy mix shows that employees feel secure reporting openly while also trusting anonymous channels. If most reports are anonymous, it may indicate that people don’t feel safe sharing concerns by name. If nearly all reports are named, it could mean that anonymous channels aren’t well communicated or understood.
eNPS (Employee Net Promoter Score)
The Employee Net Promoter Score measures how employees perceive your organization or specific processes. There are two common ways to use it:
- Post-Investigation eNPS – Used after an investigation to gauge how employees felt about the process, including fairness, transparency and responsiveness.
- Overall eNPS – Measures how likely employees are to recommend your organization as a place to work, reflecting overall engagement and trust.
This metric shows overall confidence in the ER process and willingness to report issues again. High scores suggest a culture where employees believe their concerns will be heard and addressed effectively.
Legal or Compliance Risk Exposure
This metric measures the number or proportion of cases that carry potential legal or regulatory consequences. It helps HR identify issues that could lead to fines, lawsuits or reputational damage, allowing teams to prioritize investigations and allocate resources effectively.
While this isn’t typically one of the first metrics to track, it becomes crucial as your ER processes mature and you have consistent, reliable data in place.
Performance Management Impact (Cost per Employee)
This metric measures the financial impact of performance management programs on a per-employee basis. It helps HR understand the costs associated with performance issues, coaching and development interventions, which supports better informed budgeting.
How to Set HR KPIs
Get Aligned on Goals
Sucessfully setting HR KPIs begins with clarity on your organization’s priorities. Begin by identifying the outcomes your HR function is meant to influence — employee engagement, retention, compliance or productivity. Align each KPI with these goals to ensure HR efforts directly support broader business objectives.
Make KPIs Actionable and Time-Bound
Next, make KPIs measurable and actionable. The more specific, the better. Rather than vague targets like “improve employee satisfaction,” focus on specific metrics such as “increase employee engagement survey scores by 10% over 12 months” or “reduce time-to-hire by 15 days.” Clear metrics allow you to track progress, identify gaps and make data-driven decisions. It also provides actionable insights into how well you’re achieving your goals.
Get Insight Before and After
It’s also important to balance leading and lagging indicators. Leading indicators, such as training completion rates or manager feedback scores, predict future outcomes, while lagging indicators, like turnover rates or grievance cases, measure results after the fact. A mix ensures your KPIs drive both immediate action and long-term insight.
Don’t Create HR KPIs in a Vacuum
Finally, involve stakeholders across HR and the business when defining KPIs. Leaders, managers and even your employees can help validate what matters most, improving adoption and ensuring metrics are realistic and relevant. Document your KPIs, review them periodically with your team to boost transparency and adjust as the organization evolves.
Leveraging HR KPI Data
So you have a bunch of great data from your HR KPIs. Now what do you do with it?
Collecting HR KPI data is only valuable if you know how to use it strategically. Some tools, like HR Acuity, make it simple to decipher what your data means and get actionable insights — even without data insights. For example, with HR Acuity you can quickly visualize your data or ask our AI-powered companion questions about your information just like you would a colleague.
Regardless of your solution of choice, once data is collected, visualize it using dashboards or reports. Graphs, heatmaps and trend lines make patterns clear and allow HR leaders to spot risks early — like rising turnover in a high-value department or repeated employee complaints in one team. This insight enables proactive interventions.
HR KPI data also supports predictive analysis. By looking at patterns over time, you can forecast future challenges, such as staffing shortages, compliance risks or engagement dips. This moves HR from a reactive function to a strategic partner that anticipates and mitigates risks before they escalate. (Want to learn more? Check out our blog on predictive analytics for HR.)
Finally, data should inform conversations and decisions. Share insights with leadership and managers in a way that is actionable and easy to understand. Highlight where HR initiatives are driving results, where adjustments are needed and how teams can contribute to improvement.
A Real-World Example of KPIs in Action
Imagine a company experiencing higher-than-expected employee turnover and some complaints about workplace culture. To better understand the situation, HR starts tracking a few simple but telling KPIs.
First, they look at Case Volume per 1,000 Employees by Category. They notice that most cases are clustered around communication issues and performance management conflicts. This insight helps HR identify hotspots in specific teams or processes where intervention is needed.
Next, HR examines the Issue-to-Case Ratio. They see that many employees are reporting multiple issues before a formal case is opened, suggesting that concerns are more complex than previously understood. This signals a need for more thorough investigation practices and better support for managers handling these situations.
Finally, HR tracks Hotline Issues per 1,000 Employees. They discover that while the total volume is reasonable, a significant portion of reports are submitted anonymously. This indicates that some employees may not feel fully comfortable speaking up openly, highlighting a gap in trust or communication about reporting channels.
By focusing on these simple KPIs, HR can prioritize targeted interventions: improving manager training, strengthening reporting channels, and addressing specific team challenges. The metrics provide a clear, actionable roadmap, transforming raw data into meaningful strategies that directly improve workplace culture and employee experience.
Tracking HR KPIs with HR Acuity
HR Acuity makes tracking HR and employee relations KPIs simple, centralized and actionable. With all case and issue data in one platform, you can uncover trends, hotspots and potential risks across your organization. Historical and current data are combined to give a complete picture, helping HR detect patterns and prevent issues before they escalate.
The platform’s AI-powered analytics companion, olivER™, takes KPI tracking to the next level. Ask olivER questions about your case data and get instant insights with visual outputs that make trends easy to spot. olivER automates analysis, streamlines task management and provides real-time updates, giving your team the information needed to act quickly and confidently.
HR Acuity also allows you to benchmark your data against organizations of similar size and industry. These AI-driven comparisons highlight areas where your processes excel or lag and provide best practice recommendations to improve performance.
Dashboards and reporting tools are fully customizable with drag-and-drop functionality, letting HR teams visualize metrics in the way that best fits their workflow. You can filter, search and save tailored reports for ongoing monitoring, making it easier than ever to track key KPIs like case volume, issue-to-case ratios or hotline reports.
By combining centralized data, AI-driven insights and intuitive reporting, HR Acuity turns raw metrics into actionable strategies. The result is a proactive, data-driven HR function that can consistently improve employee experience, workplace culture and organizational risk management.
Ready to explore how HR Acuity can empower your team to track key human resources KPIs more effectively than ever? Get a demo today.
