As the year wraps up, HR leaders are already thinking ahead. But before you can plan next year’s initiatives, budgets, and priorities, you need to understand how your workforce actually performed this year. That means taking a focused, structured look at your HR department KPIs, employee engagement metrics, retention trends, and industry benchmarks.
This guide walks you step-by-step through how to turn this year’s data into a confident, insight-driven HR strategy for next year.
Why Reviewing This Year’s HR Department KPIs Matters
Your organization already has the data you need to make smarter decisions—participation scores, turnover numbers, engagement metrics, time-to-fill, internal mobility rates, and more. But these metrics only become valuable when you review them consistently and in context.
A year-end data review helps you:
- Identify what’s driving (or hurting) engagement
- Spot retention risks earlier
- Understand team, department, or location-level trends
- Benchmark yourself against the industry
- Prioritize HR initiatives that will have the biggest impact
If you want next year’s HR strategy to be proactive—not reactive—your year-end KPI review is the place to start.
Step 1: Gather and Organize This Year’s HR Department KPIs
Before you can analyze anything, you need your full dataset in one place. Collect your metrics from across your workforce systems, surveys, HRIS, and performance tools.
Key KPIs to include: engagement, retention, performance, and more
At minimum, gather:
- Employee engagement metrics (survey favorability, participation, qualitative themes)
- Employee retention metrics (voluntary turnover, regrettable loss, first-year turnover, exit themes)
- Performance indicators (goal completion, performance ratings, promotion rates)
- Hiring and onboarding data (time-to-fill, new-hire experience, early turnover)
- Learning & development (training usage, skill gaps, internal mobility)
This becomes your baseline for reviewing the health of your workforce.
How to aggregate employee engagement metrics effectively
If you use an employee listening platform like People Element, this is straightforward—download or review your annual trend summary. If not, consolidate:
- Annual and quarterly survey results
- Pulse checks
- Open-ended feedback themes
- Team/department comparisons
Your goal: one clean dataset you can easily analyze.
Step 2: Analyze Trends in Your Employee Engagement and Retention Metrics
Once your metrics are organized, start looking for direction—not just data points.
Using your employee listening platform to visualize trends
Platforms empower you to:
- Generate year-over-year engagement charts
- Compare favorability across demographic segments
- View turnover spikes by month or department
- Track participation improvement
- Identify recurring comment themes with AI
These visuals make it easier to uncover meaningful patterns.
How to manually analyze KPIs if you don’t have a platform
If you’re working in spreadsheets:
- Chart each KPI month-over-month or quarter-over-quarter
- Highlight high- and low-performing teams
- Categorize open-ended comments into common themes
- Use conditional formatting to make patterns more visible
Manual analysis takes extra time but still delivers valuable clarity.
Step 3: Compare Your KPIs to HR Industry Benchmarks
Even strong internal numbers don’t tell the whole story. Benchmark comparisons add context by showing how your workforce stacks up against peers.
Why HR benchmark data is essential for context
Benchmark data reveals:
- Whether your engagement score is above or below industry norms
- If your turnover rate is expected—or a red flag
- Where your performance or onboarding metrics need improvement
- How competitive your employee experience actually is
Without benchmarks, it’s hard to know what “good” looks like.
What benchmark comparisons reveal about strengths and gaps
When you compare your KPIs to HR industry benchmarks:
- High scores show what’s working and should be expanded
- Average scores indicate stability but opportunity for growth
- Low scores point to priority issues for next year
Benchmarks help you build a strategy grounded in real expectations—not guesswork.
Step 4: Choose HR Benchmark Data Customized to Your Industry
Not all benchmarks are created equal. A healthcare benchmark looks very different from a manufacturing or nonprofit benchmark.
Industry-specific benchmarks improve accuracy and relevance
Using generic benchmarks:
❌ Can skew your expectations
❌ Makes your performance look better or worse than it really is
❌ Provides little actionable guidance
Using industry-specific HR benchmark data:
✔ Gives an accurate view of your competitive landscape
✔ Helps you understand employee expectations in your sector
✔ Highlights where your workforce experience may be falling behind
For the strongest planning foundation, make sure your benchmarks match your industry.
Step 5: Turn KPI Insights Into HR Action Items for Next Year
Now that you understand your data, it’s time to turn insights into priorities.
Examples of data-driven HR initiatives to prioritize
Depending on your findings, your action plan may include:
- Improving onboarding if early turnover is high
- Launching manager training if engagement is low in certain teams
- Building retention plans for high-risk roles
- Updating benefits based on employee feedback themes
- Strengthening internal mobility programs
- Redesigning surveys to better measure engagement drivers
- Implementing a quarterly pulse schedule for ongoing listening
Let your data—not assumptions—guide your decisions.
Step 6: Prepare a Leadership-Ready HR Strategy Report
You’ve done the work. Now present it in a way leadership can quickly understand.
What to include in a KPI and benchmark summary
Your report should clearly show:
- This year’s HR department KPIs
- Trend charts for engagement and retention
- Benchmark comparisons
- Identified strengths and risks
- Recommended focus areas for next year
- Expected impact on employee experience and business results
Connecting HR recommendations to business outcomes
Leadership wants to know:
- How your plan impacts productivity
- How it reduces turnover costs
- How it supports growth or transformation goals
- How it improves employee engagement and performance
Tie each recommendation to a business outcome, and your strategy becomes far more compelling.
Using This Year’s Data to Drive Next Year’s Success
Your workforce data holds the answers to your biggest HR questions—what’s working, what isn’t, and what needs to change next year. With a structured KPI review and clear benchmark comparisons, you can build an HR strategy that’s confident, evidence-based, and aligned with business goals.
Download Your Custom HR Benchmark Data Report
Want a head start? Get benchmark data tailored to your industry—so you can plan next year’s HR strategy with clarity and confidence.
