HR OKR Examples: People Metrics and Sample OKR Sets to Start From
OKR examples by department
HR OKR Examples: People Metrics and Sample OKR Sets to Start From
These HR OKR examples give you two things to work from: a full list of the metrics people teams track, and nine complete OKR sets built from them. Every Key Result follows the same formula, with an action verb, the metric, a starting value, a target and a deadline. The values are written as X and Y, because a target that suits a company of forty would mislead an HR team supporting two thousand. Fill them in from your own data.
The short answer
What makes a good HR OKR?
A good HR OKR names a change the company needs, such as keeping the people it can least afford to lose, and measures it with outcomes. “Hire 3 engineers” counts the work. “Reduce regretted attrition in engineering from X% to Y% by the end of Q4” measures what the people work was meant to cause.
Each Key Result uses one pattern:
- Open with an action verb, such as reduce, raise, increase, lower or reach.
- Name the metric you want to move.
- Give the starting value and the target, written as from X to Y.
- Set the deadline, such as the end of the quarter.
Step 1: pick your numbers
HR metrics to build your Key Results from
These are the numbers people teams track, and the raw material for every one of the HR OKR examples further down. They’re grouped by the part of the employee lifecycle they measure. None of them is a Key Result yet. Pick the few that show the change your Objective is about, then write each one with the formula above.
Hiring speed
- Time to fill
- Time to hire
- Time from final interview to offer
- Candidate response time
- Open roles past their target start date
Hiring quality
- Offer acceptance rate
- Quality of hire rating
- Hiring manager satisfaction
- New hire retention at 90 days
- Candidate experience score
- Interview to offer ratio
Onboarding
- Time to productivity
- New hire onboarding score
- Day-one readiness for equipment and access
- First-year attrition
- New hire confidence in their role at 30 days
Engagement
- Employee Net Promoter Score (eNPS)
- Engagement survey score
- Survey participation rate
- Share of employees who see action on survey feedback
- Recognition frequency
Retention
- Voluntary attrition rate
- Regretted attrition rate
- Average tenure
- Stay-intent score
- Exit reasons by category
- Absence rate
Learning and mobility
- Internal fill rate
- Promotion rate
- Time to promotion
- Employees with an active development plan
- Skills assessed at target level
- Retention of internal moves
Managers
- Manager effectiveness score
- Career conversations held per quarter
- Attrition on teams with new managers
- Span of control
- Upward feedback participation
Fairness and HR operations
- Pay equity gap
- Promotion rate by group
- Inclusion survey score
- Time to resolve HR requests
- Employee satisfaction with HR support
- HR cost per employee
- Self-service resolution rate
Some of these are health metrics you protect and hold steady, such as payroll accuracy, compliance training completion, benefits enrollment errors and headcount against budget. Keep them inside a set range while the OKRs push elsewhere. If one starts slipping, it becomes a candidate for its own OKR. For more on how health metrics and OKRs sit side by side, read our guide on KPIs vs OKRs.
Step 2: write the Key Result
How to turn an HR metric into a Key Result
The standard form covers almost every Key Result. There are two more for the moments when a number isn’t available yet. Here’s one of each, written for a people team:
- Standard Key Result. Reduce regretted attrition from X% to Y% by the end of Q4.
- Baseline Key Result, for a metric you’ve never measured. Determine the current time to productivity for new hires by the end of Q1. Next cycle, it becomes “Reduce time to productivity for new hires from X to Y weeks by the end of Q2.”
- Milestone Key Result, used sparingly when there’s no metric to track yet. Complete exit reason tracking for every leaver by the end of week six.
Then run the outcome test: if the team could finish all the work and the number might still not move, the Key Result measures activity. Rewrite it around what the work was meant to cause. The OKR examples hub walks through the full method, from brainstorming Objectives to prioritizing them, and the SHRM onboarding toolkit covers how to measure a new hire’s first months.
Step 3: start from a sample
Nine HR OKR examples to adapt
Each of these HR OKR examples has a qualitative Objective and three Key Results written in full. Several pair a speed number with a quality number, so the team can’t hit one by breaking the other. Treat them as patterns, and swap in your own roles, teams and starting values.
ObjectiveFill our open roles with people who thrive here
- Reduce the median time to fill for [role family] from X to Y days by the end of the quarter
- Raise the offer acceptance rate from X% to Y% by the end of the quarter
- Increase the share of new hires rated strong by their manager at 90 days from X% to Y% by the end of Q4
ObjectiveHelp new hires do their best work sooner
- Reduce the average time to productivity for new hires from X to Y weeks by the end of Q3
- Raise the new hire onboarding score from X to Y by the end of Q3
- Increase the share of new hires with equipment and access ready on day one from X% to Y% by the end of Q3
ObjectiveMake this a place people recommend to their friends
- Increase employee Net Promoter Score from X to Y by the end of Q4
- Raise engagement survey participation from X% to Y% by the end of Q4
- Lift the share of employees who see action on their survey feedback from X% to Y% by the end of Q4
ObjectiveKeep the people we can least afford to lose
- Reduce regretted attrition from X% to Y% by the end of Q4
- Lower first-year attrition from X% to Y% by the end of Q4
- Raise the stay-intent score among top performers from X to Y by the end of Q4
ObjectiveGive every team a manager they trust
- Raise the average manager effectiveness score from X to Y by the end of Q2
- Increase the share of employees who had a career conversation with their manager this quarter from X% to Y% by the end of Q2
- Reduce voluntary attrition on teams with new managers from X% to Y% by the end of Q2
ObjectiveGrow our next leaders from inside the company
- Increase the internal fill rate for manager roles from X% to Y% by the end of Q4
- Raise the share of employees with an active development plan from X% to Y% by the end of Q4
- Hold 12-month retention of internal moves at or above X% through the end of Q4
ObjectiveMake pay and promotion decisions our people trust
- Reduce the unexplained pay gap between [groups] in the same roles from X% to Y% by the end of Q4
- Lower the gap in promotion rates between [groups] from X to Y percentage points by the end of Q4
- Raise the inclusion survey score from X to Y by the end of Q4
ObjectiveGive employees fast and helpful answers from HR
- Reduce the median time to resolve HR requests from X to Y days by the end of the quarter
- Raise employee satisfaction with HR support from X to Y by the end of the quarter
- Increase the share of requests resolved through self-service from X% to Y% by the end of the quarter
ObjectiveKnow which hiring sources bring people who stay
- Determine the current 12-month retention rate for each hiring source by the end of Q1
- Complete source tracking for every hire in the applicant tracking system by the end of week six
- Increase the share of new hires with a known hiring source from X% to Y% by the end of the quarter
The last example mixes a baseline Key Result, a milestone Key Result and a standard one. That combination suits a team measuring something for the first time. Next cycle, the baseline turns into a standard “from X to Y” Key Result.
See it in context
Where these OKRs come from
The HR OKR examples above leave out which part of the strategy each one serves, because that depends on your company. Our sample business profile shows the full picture for one made-up company: its strategic priorities, its SWOT, and the linked OKRs for every department.
More idea banks
OKR examples for other departments
HR OKR examples get sharper next to the goals of the teams you hire for and support. The engineering and sales pages show where hiring and onboarding goals start, and Gallup’s overview of its Q12 engagement survey explains the engagement measures in the list above.
- Operations OKR examplesThroughput, cost, quality and process metrics and OKRs.
- Finance OKR examplesCash, margin, forecasting and close metrics and OKRs.
- Engineering OKR examplesDelivery speed, reliability, quality and tech debt metrics and OKRs.
- Sales OKR examplesPipeline, win rate, deal size and sales cycle metrics and OKRs.
Frequently asked questions
How many OKRs should an HR team set?
One to four Objectives per cycle, each with two to five Key Results. An HR team focused on one Objective, such as keeping its top performers, has room to finish it well while payroll, benefits and compliance keep running.
How do you write an HR Key Result?
Start with an action verb, name the metric, give the starting value and the target, and set a deadline. For example: “Reduce regretted attrition from X% to Y% by the end of Q4.” Our guide on how to write OKRs covers the Objective side too.
Is time to fill a good Key Result?
On its own it rewards fast hires over good ones. The hiring set in the HR OKR examples above pairs it with a quality measure, such as the offer acceptance rate or new hire retention at 90 days, so the team only wins by filling roles with people who stay.
Should OKR scores feed into performance reviews?
Keep the two separate. When people know an OKR score affects their rating or pay, they set targets they’re sure to hit, and the honest reporting OKRs depend on disappears. Use OKRs to steer the work, and run performance reviews as their own process.
Can I use these HR OKR examples as they are?
Use them as a starting point. Keep the structure, then swap in your own roles, teams and groups, and set every X from your own data before the team agrees on Y.
Bring your HR OKRs into one weekly rhythm
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