The APQC Blog
All Posts
Trends to Look Out for in HR Shared Services
Throughout my 10+ years at APQC, HR shared services has been one of the hottest topics for our members—and for good reason. The shared services delivery model moves responsibility for high-volume transactional HR work from business-embedded HR partners to HR staff working in a centralized services…
Pros and Cons of Outsourcing Recruiting
Whether you are looking to ramp up hiring volume fast, explore new talent pipelines, or reduce the administrative burden on your in-house recruiters, outsourcing can make your recruiting process cheaper, faster, and more effective. Many organizations outsource the entire recruiting process, but…
How Many Middle Management Positions Do You Need?
When organizations are looking to reduce headcount, they often begin at the management level and with middle management in particular. While reducing the number of middle managers in your organization can help you save labor costs more quickly, cuts to middle management can also be…
What Are the Right Human Resource Benchmarks to Use?
APQC finds that there are five HR measures that every organization should benchmark: HR cost per $1,000 revenue, HR cost per employee, number of employees per HR FTE, number of HR FTEs per $1 billion revenue, and number of HR administration FTEs per $1 billion revenue.Top Five HR Measures to…
What Is Workforce Planning?
Workforce planning can increase organizational agility, improve talent outcomes, save money, and improve business performance. Yet only half of organizations carry out workforce planning effectively.To reap the full benefits of strategic workforce planning, consider adopting APQC’s 7-step framework…
Reducing Involuntary Terminations Starts with Better Leadership and Communication
Role reductions, workforce adjustments, flattening the organization structure, managing attrition, reshaping for the future . . . while the lingo varies, the message is the same: layoffs are coming. Over the past six months, the business press has seen its share of layoff announcements. After…
Feeling Pressure to Get Predictive?
Not long ago, I launched an APQC research study to examine how organizations were using big data in human capital management. I had read many articles on the topic. In the Workforce Management article “Big Data, Bigger Deal,” Michelle Rafter defines HR big data writing: “The term ‘HR big data…
4 Ways to Train Away Your Talent Shortages
In my last blog post, Recruiting Won’t Solve Your Talent Shortage, I wrote that training and development is often overlooked as a talent shortage solution. APQC’s Open Standards Benchmarking in training and development provides a clue as to why. It shows that most organizations today…
Recruiting Won't Solve Your Talent Shortage
When your organization faces a skill shortage is recruiting the primary solution? If you answered yes, your organization may be approaching talent scarcity with one hand tied behind its back. As a worker, you’ve likely experienced the consequences of persistent skills shortages. When jobs…
8 Essential Truths About Engaging Employees
The employee survey results—part of our first submission to The Houston Chronicle Top Workplaces list—were shocking. APQC was a good workplace, but not the great workplace that leaders and employees expected. APQC made it a mission to move the needle on its employee engagement survey. Leaders…