GUIDE TO SURFACE DASHBOARD

PRIORITIES
What It Does:
The Guide to Surface Dashboard Priorities provides questions to ask line leaders and their HR business partners to
enhance your understanding of business strategy and determine which related talent issues are most important to address
using the dashboard.

How to Use It:

Drive conversations with key line leaders to learn about their business goals, strategy, and talent concerns.

Instructions:
- Conduct telephone-based or face-to-face meetings with key business unit heads.
- Use the questions to guide your conversation and document your discussion.
- Pull questions from the Appendix as needed to supplement the talent questions in the final step.

CEB Corporate Leadership Council

© 2015 CEB
Section 1 - Understand the Business’s Current State

Use these questions to learn the status of the business unit right now, as well as the line leader's perception
of the current state of the organization.

What are the business unit's primary sources of revenue and its major cost categories?

What are the few critical outputs/end results for which this business unit is accountable?

What is the business unit's competitive advantage (or disadvantage) compared with its
competitors?

How has the business environment changed over the course of the last year with respect to:
 Market share and competition
 Customers and channels
 Production/service delivery cost
 Technology and regulatory changes

What are the biggest challenges you are facing today as you lead the business?
Section 2 - Understand Business Strategy

Use these questions to become familiar with the long-term plan as the line leader sees it, including how
those plans can be achieved and measures of success.

What are your key business goals for the next two to five years?

What are your business’s primary strategies? How do you plan to execute on these strategies?

What is the direction of the key product line, supply chain, service offering, etc.?

How will you know if the business unit is successful? What will you measure?

What are the key success factors that will make or break the business unit's success in the long
term?

What major obstacles will the business unit face in reaching these objectives?
Section 3 - Understand Critical Talent Questions & Needs

Given the goals and strategy discussed, review the following questions with line leaders and HR business
partners to better understand their critical talent issues. Ask: If answered, which of the following talent
questions would best help you address a challenge or work on your priorities?

Ask the leaders to then prioritize their top 3-5 questions.

NOTE: The Appendix contains additional questions, organized by category, to supplement your
conversation.

Demographics and Diversity

 How much of our workforce will retire in the next year or next five years?
 What is the average employee tenure? In the last five years, has it increased, decreased, or
remained the same?
 How diverse is our managerial population? How does it vary across our lines of business?

Productivity
 How differently do we pay our top contributors vs. our average contributors? Is this in proportion to
their contribution?
 In the last five years, has workforce productivity increased, decreased, or remained the same? What
is our relative performance against competitors?

Health and Safety

 How many workplace injuries per 100 employees occur on an annual basis? How does this compare
within our industry?
 What is the dollar cost impact of short- and long-term disability absences and claims?

Employee Engagement
 What percentage of our employees would say they are committed to the organization? Why are they
committed?
 How many of our employees would say they are committed to the organization? Why are they
committed?

Turnover and Mobility

 What is our voluntary turnover rate among individuals in critical roles? What are associated costs to
the business?
 What percentage of our high performers are at high risk for departure?
 Do we retain our key/most productive people at a higher rate than our best competitors?

Workforce Planning
 Are we over-staffed?
 What is the magnitude of competency ‘gaps’ between needed and actual capabilities?
 What is the rate of internal to external hires to balance institutional knowledge with fresh ideas?

Staffing and Recruiting

 What is our employment brand strength among prospective employees?
 What percentage of our first choice candidates accept our offers?
 What is our cost-per-hire? As this figure rises or declines, does new hire quality follow suit?

Compensation and Benefits

 What percent of total compensation is tied to performance?
 How much higher or lower are our new hire salaries compared to others in our industry?
Training and Development
 Is there a correlation in our organization between the percent of all people costs spent on training
and firm profitability?
 How many dollars are spent annually per individual on training and development? How does this
compare against our key competitors?
 What percent of trained individuals are observed to use the skill or knowledge on the job?

HR Function
 What is the ROI of our daily HR activities?
APPENDIX – COMPLETE LIST OF HUMAN CAPITAL QUESTIONS

Demographics and Diversity

 What percentage of our workforce will retire in the next year or next five years?
 What is the average age in our organization? In the last five years has it increased, decreased, or
remained the same?
 What is the average organization tenure? In the last five years has it increased, decreased, or
remained the same?
 What is our ratio of managerial to non-managerial staff? In the last five years has it increased,
decreased, or remained the same?
 What is our ratio of customer-facing or revenue-generating staff to back-office staff? In the last five
years has it increased, decreased, or remained the same?
 What percentage of our current managerial positions are occupied by women or minorities? How
does it vary across our lines of business?
 What percentage of our identified successor pool are women or minorities?
 How many part-time, temporary, or contract employees exist across our organization? What
business units rely on them most heavily?
Productivity
 What is our revenue per employee? Is it higher than our competitors? How does it vary across lines
of business or geographies?
 How does our head count per unit of production compare to that of our direct competitors?
 How many dollars of operating profit are generated for every dollar invested in compensation and
benefits?
 What percentage of every dollar of operating expenses is invested in compensation and benefits?
 Is the ROI on Human Capital higher than the ROI on working capital, invested capital or plant and
equipment?
 In the last five years, has workforce productivity increased, decreased, or remained the same? What
is our relative performance against competitors?
 What is the average time-to-full-productivity for new hires? How does this compare to median tenure
within our organization?
Health and Safety
 How many workplace injuries per 100 employees occur on an annual basis? How does this compare
across our locations and within our industry?
 How many health and safety incidents occur per one million hours worked? How does this compare
across our locations and within our industry?
 What is the dollar cost impact of short- and long-term disability absences and claims?
Employee Engagement
 What percentage of our employees are fully engaged and are “doing their best work” at all times?
How does this vary across functions and lines of business?
 What percentage of our employees would say they are committed to the organization? Why are they
committed?
 How many of our employees have applied for positions outside the company in the past six months?
 How many EEO complaints or lawsuits are filed annually?
 What do we incur in legal costs to arbitrate, defend, or otherwise resolve complaints and lawsuits?
Turnover and Mobility
 What percentage of our workforce moves internally each year between lines of business or
functional areas?
 What is our average position tenure?
 What percentage of our workforce is promoted annually” How does this compare across
demographic segments and lines of business?
 What is the average time between promotions? How does this compare across demographic
segments and lines of business?
 Which lines of business or managers have the highest voluntary turnover rates? Is this a persistent
or recent phenomenon?
 Which lines of business experience the greatest annual “knowledge loss” from terminations,
transfers, and promotions combined?
 Which lines of business or managers are the best developers of talent as measured by the
promotions out of their department?
 Which lines of business or managers are magnets for high potential employees as evidenced by
their transfer rate into various departments?
 What is our voluntary turnover rate among key executives? What are the associated costs to the
business?
 What is our voluntary turnover rate among top performers? What are the associated costs to the
business?
 What is our voluntary turnover rate among individuals in critical roles? What are the associated costs
to the business?
 What is our voluntary turnover rate among all individuals in hard to hire positions? What are the
associated costs to the business?
 Do we retain our key/most productive people at a higher rate than our best competitors?
 What is our involuntary termination rate? What percentage of these actions are due to poor
performance?
 Do we retain our key/most productive people at a higher rate than our best competitors?
Workforce Planning
 Are we over-staffed?
 Are we under-staffed in areas, where if we added people, we would increase our profitability?
 What is the magnitude of competency ‘gaps’ between needed and actual capabilities?
 What is the rate of internal to external hires to balance institutional knowledge with fresh ideas?
 What percentage of our “critical roles” are staffed with below-average performers?
 What percentage of key positions have identified successors?
 What is the depth and quality of the successor pool for key positions?
 What percentage of our high performers are at a high risk for departure?
 Where in the organization are our high performers concentrated? Where are there very few? Is this
by design?
 Are our highly experienced and skilled talent deployed in positions requiring their skills? Could any
of these positions be staffed with less experienced talent?
Staffing and Recruiting
 What is our employment brand strength among prospective employees?
 Do new hires continually increase the overall quality and productivity of our workforce?
 What percentage of critical roles are unfilled as of today?
 What percentage of our first choice candidates accept our offers?
 Which recruiting sources provide the highest-performing employees?
 How deep is our pipeline for positions known to be hard to replace?
 How does the performance of our new hires in their first six months vary by recruiter or hiring
manager?
 What percentage of applicants exceed the qualifications of our best current employees?
 What percentage of our employment offers are accepted? How does this vary by gender, ethnicity,
EEO category, or salary band?
 What percentage of new hires leave voluntarily in the first six months?
 What percentage of new hires are terminated in the first six months?
 What is the dollar cost impact across recruiting, training, and lost productivity for each early-tenure
departure?
 What percentage of interviewees do hiring managers deem unqualified and not worth their time?
 Is the recruiting pipeline appropriately diverse to ensure diversity in hires and the overall workforce?
 How accurate are our pre-employment tests in predicting the quality of a hire?
 How many inquiries or applications do we receive per open position?
 What percent of referred applicants are hired?
 Do referred applicants perform better, worse, or the same as non-referred applicants once on the
 job?
 What percent of recruitment sources are evaluated and dropped for new more effective sources
annually?
 What is our time-to-fill by job grade and geographic location?
 What is our cost-per-hire? As this figure rises or declines, does new hire quality follow suit?
 What percent of above-average performers are still with the firm after one year? Three years? Ten
years?
Compensation and Benefits
 What is the percent increase in employee performance as the result of every one percent increase in
pay?
 How much differently do we pay our top contributors from our average contributors? Is this in
proportion to their contribution?
 What percent of total compensation is tied to performance?
 How much higher or lower are our new hire salaries compared to others in our industry?
 What percentage of total compensation is direct compensation vs. benefits? How do employee
perceptions of this split compare to the actual figures?
 Based on our workforce demographics, could we be offering a benefits package that is both more
attractive and less expensive than the current offerings?
 Has our stock options program added to or diluted our share’s value?
Training and Development
 Is there a correlation in our organization between the percent of all people costs spent on training
and firm profitability?
 What is the percent increase in performance as a result of every $1,000 spent on training?
 What percentage of poor performers become good or better performers within a year, as a result of
our individual development efforts?
 What percentage of underperforming managers turn around their performance by the next review
period?
 What is the percent of trained individuals are observed to use the skill or knowledge on the job?
 How does the performance of employees participating in optional training programs compare to
those not participating?
 How many dollars are spent annually per individual on training and development? How does this
compare against our key competitors?
 Do longer tenured employees continue to grow via training, or is training disproportionally offered to,
or attended by, newer employees?
 What percentage of managers gladly send employees to training sessions? Which courses are
recommended by managers or fill quickly?
 How have leadership development programs impacted productivity, profitability, or employee
satisfaction?
 What percent of employees identified and possible managerial successors attend leadership
development sessions?
 How much weight in manager’s variable pay or performance reviews is given to employee
development?
 What percentage of employees have an individual development plan created for them?
 What percentage of employees complete the recommended steps on their development plan?
HR Function
 What percent of all corporate spending goes to HR? How does it compare to last year and our best
competitors?
 Does adding more or higher quality HR resources make a direct top- or bottom-line impact?
 What percentage of all HR employees have work experience in a line of business?
 How do employees rate their satisfaction with HR’s transactional services?
 How do employees rate their satisfaction with HR’s consultative (value-added) services?
 What percentage of HR programs actually achieve the ROI stated in their business case or project
proposal?
 What percentage of HR programs are discontinued every year for failing to achieve interim targets or
meet expectations?
 How many early warnings does HR communicate to line managers? How many are accompanied by
recommendations for heading off the rising problem?
 What are the avoided costs from timely HR interventions, whether identified by HR or line
managers?
 What is the ROI of our daily HR activities?