
Every business needs to keep track of their employees and what they are doing, but some businesses don’t know-how.
Human Resources (HR) reporting is a way for you to understand your workforce to make better decisions. HR reports come in different types. There are performance reviews, disciplinary actions, and terminations.
However, there are also more general reports, such as the number of hours worked or eligibility for benefits. With so many options, it can be difficult sifting through each one to find the information that’s relevant to you! In this article, we will break down what HR reporting means in general.
So whenever you’re ready to dive deep into this important business topic, keep reading.
HR Reporting: The Basics
HR reporting is an important part of most businesses. It gives employers a deeper understanding of their workforce and how to manage employees better.
There are many different types of reports that will help you with your business decisions. The information contained in each report may vary depending on what you’re trying to find out.
Performance Reviews
Every company has a set of objectives to meet. These are often listed on the employee’s job description or as part of orientation.
To ensure everyone is meeting those goals, companies will have performance reviews. These are done when discussing how well they are meeting those objectives.
Furthermore, to ensure you keep track of your employees, a performance review can be used as part of an HR report.
For example, if the percentage of sales that meet their goals is low, intervention is needed. If there’s a high turnover rate in one department, this means the same.
Termination Reports
These reports are used to document and justify the termination of an employee’s employment.
There are many reasons why a company might need to terminate someone. Still, most often, it falls under these categories:
- Theft or other forms of embezzlement
- Sexual harassment complaints against another employee
- Derogatory remarks about other employees
- Drug/alcohol abuse
Even more so, these reports can be used as part of an HR report to determine if there’s a larger problem that needs to be addressed.
For example, a consistently high turnover rate in one department may mean the employees aren’t happy. This is true if they are working with their manager or feel like management isn’t supportive enough.
Firing those individuals might not solve this issue. Further investigations will need to take place!
Employee Eligibility Lists
These lists are used to track eligibility for company benefits such as sick time or paid vacation days. Every business will have different eligibility requirements based on their specific needs.
However, most companies require that an employee works at least a certain number of hours each month before they are eligible.
These lists can also be used when you are creating an HR report. For example, if there is a sudden spike in the number of people who need to take time off for medical reasons or these employees work less than required hours per month, this might indicate that something has changed within your company, such as hiring new staff with lower qualifications.
Benefits-Eligible Lists
These lists track who is receiving benefits from the company at a specific time. Companies develop eligibility requirements for full or part-time employees to be included on this list.
It also includes information about which types of insurance they have access to and how many dependents are covered under those policies.
These lists are used to create HR reports as well. For example, when you want to see if a certain group of employees has been using their sick time more than others or eligible for health benefits and how many dependents they are covering with that insurance policy.
This is just a small sample of the many reports that a company can use to track its employees, and while each report serves its own specific purpose, they are all designed to help you better understand your workforce.
These reports will allow you to make more informed decisions when it comes time to promote or discipline an employee.
However, it’s important not to base these decisions completely on the reports you receive.
HR Reporting Best Practices
While reports are beneficial in determining who you should promote or not, there are some best practices to keep in mind. This is especially true when making these decisions.
For example, just because a report shows that an employee is performing poorly doesn’t mean they will continue this trend into the future. While their performance may warrant disciplinary action, you might want to give them another chance. Please do this before terminating them from employment as it could be something temporary, like a family situation changing.
Unfortunately, many companies don’t think about keeping track of employees’ personal lives. This can cause even more problems later on! There’s no way of knowing for sure unless you have further information.
Furthermore, it’s highly recommended that you keep track of any disciplinary action so one can consider it in future reports.
For example, if an employee has been written up for poor performance in the past and continues to, they require a new approach. For instance, such as counseling sessions or management training.
Additional Practices
If possible, make sure to keep your reporting system up to date by updating or creating new lists as soon as changes occur within the company, such as when someone is let go, or a child is added under a benefits plan.
You should only include information that is relevant to the purpose you are creating a report for. This means it needs to be timely, accurate, specific enough not to leave any important details out. It must also still be broad enough so you can get an overall picture of what’s going on within your company.
Standardize your reports, so they are easier to compare and analyze.
Before creating a report, make sure you know who it is going for (i.e., management, HR personnel, or staff).
Know when and where one will use it to determine if the information needed is readily available within your company’s database instead of having employees spend time gathering this data themselves.
Common Mistakes in HR Reporting
There are some common mistakes that companies make when it comes to HR reporting. They include:
- Not being specific enough means you can’t get an accurate view of what’s going on within the company
- Not updating or creating new lists that contain relevant information in a timely fashion, such as after someone is hired, let go, starts working more hours.
- Including too much irrelevant information
- Not getting management or employees involved in the process
- Only focusing on negative information when it comes to reports
While many companies who implement HR reporting find these tools very helpful, there will always be those businesses where they aren’t necessary, such as small startups with only a few employees and/or freelancers working from home offices.
On top of that, some businesses may find their needs changing over time, requiring them to switch up their approach by adding and/or subtracting certain reporting tools. An example of a great tool is done right by WorkBright.
In the end, the best way to determine if your company needs HR reports is by asking yourself one simple question: “Is there a problem that I’m trying to solve?”
If there’s not and you’re just looking for some extra information about how your business works, then it may be better off using other methods.
For instance, keeping employees informed through regular meetings instead of spending their time gathering data when they could be focusing on making money for your company!
How to Optimize Your HR Reports
To get the most out of your HR reports, it’s going to be important for you to optimize them as much as possible. The following are some best practices when it comes to optimizing these types of tools:
Be specific. This means try not to use broad, general terms or lists that include irrelevant information.
Create a hybrid system by combining multiple reporting systems. For instance, employee training logs and timesheets instead of having two separate lists/systems.
This will save employees’ energy since they won’t have to switch back and forth between their various tasks. This is true while helping management gather all the data needed in one place. This is done without wasting any time trying to figure everything out on their own.
Make sure every report is geared towards its intended purpose. For instance, managers need reports that show performance. In contrast, employees need ones that detail the company’s policies.
Only include information in a report if it can help solve a problem or answer an important question. Don’t waste precious time gathering data and creating lists for no reason.
Avoid using jargon that only uses terms/language everyone within your organization understands. This is so you’re not trying to mix up people who are already confused about what certain processes mean instead of focusing on making money.
When possible, always provide definitions. This will save management from searching through other business areas to figure out how something works.
If you follow these tips, it won’t be long before HR reporting becomes one of your most valuable tools!
Tools for HR Reporting
When it comes to gathering the right information, you’ll need to implement HR reporting tools that will help make your company run as smoothly and efficiently as possible. These are some of the most popular systems used by companies today:
Employee Training Logs
These allow management to track how long employees take on their various tasks while also revealing areas of struggling with certain assignments.
This report can also include best practices for managers and new hires alike to see what others have successfully done. This is so they know exactly what steps should follow once a task has been completed.
Time Sheets
Time tracking is becoming increasingly important due to the growing gig economy. This means businesses now more than ever need affordable ways for their employees to document the work.
This report will include hours worked, breaks taken, and other data. This could be helpful for management to make future scheduling decisions.
Employee Performance Reviews
These allow managers/leaders to go over what employees did well during a set time period.
It also covers where may have been room for improvement by discussing certain processes together so that everyone knows how best to move forward.
Business Policies
If you’re looking for information regarding your current business practices, you must implement HR reporting tools.
For example, employee handbooks or manuals. These will save both leadership and lower-level staff from wasting precious trying to figure out what steps should come next when navigating the company’s various policies.
Manager Meeting Recaps
These reports aim to provide management with a quick overview of what was discussed during any given weekly or biweekly meetings.
This information can be helpful if employees have further questions later on since they’ll already know exactly where their leader stands on certain issues/topics.
HR Reports Done Right
One of the most important parts of HR reporting is making sure you’re filling it with useful information.
This means going into as much detail as possible to provide management and employees a complete picture. A picture of what’s happening within your company at all times. Thus, allowing them to make informed decisions that benefit everyone involved!
Follow these tips for successful optimization, use reports more than once, avoid jargon, etc. Soon enough, this tool will become an integral piece of your business strategy!
If you’re interested in taking your business to the next level, feel free to read through our related articles on the sidebar. We have a wide range of content covering all of the aspects of a business.