BBC Worldwide embraces quarterly people metrics reporting

BBC Worldwide has integrated people metrics into its regular quarterly reporting to illustrate how the HR team helps the organisation.

People director Kirstin Furber also warned her peers that being resilient and focusing on where they could make the biggest impact was a vital achievement.

Speaking at the HR Directors Business Summit, she noted that being able to supply that data and understand how well people were working was vital to the organisation.

“It’s very hard with all this data, all this information, to home in on proof; where we’ve identified an issue in times of change, we’ve put something in place and to actually show ourselves as the HR team that we can move things forward but also importantly we’ve shown the organisation.”

“What I’m talking about is people metrics … that one number that goes out all the time is really important because it gives people progress, it gives people something to stand behind.

“One of the things we do at Worldwide is review our business every quarter. We look at the financials, we look at where we need to support the business, change things whether it’s marketing, how do we improve sales? And also we review our people every quarter as well because it’s absolutely linked into that business and having those metrics and those proof points are really important,” she added.

Find all the stories from the HR Directors Summit here

Furber also highlighted that resilience on a personal level and within the profession was critical to help support the continued change within organisations.
She noted that identifying and concentrating on just the key issues providing the biggest impact was essential.

“As the HR profession we could work 24/7 and honestly we might not move the dial where our businesses are and where our people are, so I think it’s really important that we look after ourselves as a profession,” she said.

“While we’re at work we need to think about the two or three things that are really going to move the dial through all this change. What’s going to make the biggest difference and focus on those – really embracing that change and moving it forward.”

Furber concluded that engendering trust in the HR leadership within an organisation was an important goal too.

“We’re never going to get everything right – I know I don’t – we’re going to learn from our mistakes, but it’s good to be humble because that’s when you open up trust with the organisation but also it’s a really exciting time and a great opportunity for our profession to take things forward,” she added.

Owain Thomas

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