HR Operations
Service delivery and measurement
Operations is where HR becomes a system: technology (HRIS, applicant tracking, LMS, payroll), process design, data governance, compliance administration, and service delivery. The Ulrich-derived model separates strategic HR business partners (embedded with business units), centers of expertise (compensation, talent, analytics), and shared services (transactional support, often tiered through self-service and a service center). Senior questions test routing: a systemic compensation design issue belongs in a COE, not the help desk.
Metrics: distinguish efficiency measures (cost per hire, HR-to-employee ratio, payroll accuracy, ticket resolution time) from effectiveness measures (quality of hire, regretted turnover, engagement, internal fill rate) and from business outcomes (productivity, revenue per FTE). Leading indicators predict; lagging indicators confirm. Dashboards should be built backwards from a decision, not forwards from whatever data exists.
Process improvement: Lean removes waste; Six Sigma reduces variation through DMAIC (define, measure, analyze, improve, control). Both need a baseline and a control plan, or gains decay.
Records and risk: know retention obligations (FLSA payroll records three years, supporting documents two), I-9 retention (three years after hire or one year after separation, whichever is later), and privacy duties (purpose limitation, access control, breach response). HR audits typically test I-9s, worker classifications, leave administration, and policy currency.
Worked example
A team hires 40 people in a year with 320,000 in combined recruiting costs. Cost per hire = 320,000 / 40 = 8,000. Benchmark it against role mix and source before declaring the process inefficient.
Traps
- Reporting an activity metric (training hours) as an outcome.
- Assuming outsourcing removes compliance accountability; it does not.
- Confusing HRBP and COE responsibilities under the pressure of a scenario stem.