Towers Perrin Launches Global Human Capital Metrics Database

As insurers seek ways to reduce labor costs while improving productivity and performance, many are struggling to find meaningful data and insights to support their human capital decisions. Although the business risks of making the wrong decisions are significant, there hasn’t been a source of global, industry-specific data, benchmarks and analytics to support such decisions.

To help close this gap, Towers Perrin, a global professional services firm, is launching a global Human Capital Metrics Database. This database will provide benchmarks and metrics in such areas as talent, rewards and the HR function, as well as industry-specific productivity measures, such as sales per square foot for retailers and premiums per employee for insurers.

“Organizations are looking for more business like tools to support strategic human capital decisions beyond the ‘thousand points of data’ approach traditionally used to assess the efficiency of the HR function,” said Max Caldwell, global leader of Towers Perrin’s Workforce Effectiveness practice. “In this economy, access to actionable data has become truly business-critical, because people programs, practices and investments have a big impact on business results.”

The Human Capital Metrics Database will focus on four key areas to support enhanced decision making for participating companies:

•Human Capital Productivity — financial and industry-specific workforce productivity measures;

•Talent Management — talent measures for key industry-specific workforce segments and the overall employee population, covering such areas as attraction, retention, engagement, leadership development, wellness and safety;

•Total Labor Costs — efficiency of reward programs; and,

•HR Function Performance — efficiency and effectiveness of HR service delivery.

“Companies that can more precisely quantify the cost and value of their workforce relative to business outcomes are better positioned in general, but in this economy, they may be ahead of the pack when it comes to quick recovery,” said Michael Beniaminovich, who is leading Towers Perrin’s Human Capital Metrics team. “With new sources of data and new technologies at our disposal, we can offer more focused information to support short- and long-term decision making. By understanding the real business value of human capital investments, companies are able to make more informed and strategic decisions to improve organizational performance.”