Many businesses use benchmarking as a way of comparing themselves to other companies, gatheringmeasurements (or metrics) on anything from recruitment and reward to training and development
Why is it important?
Many businesses use benchmarking as a way of comparing themselves to other companies, gathering measurements (or metrics) on anything from recruitment and reward to training and development. But you can also use benchmarking to compare your own personal performance and standing with your peers or superiors.
By establishing ‘where you are at now’ it can point the way to areas that require improvement as well as providing a clear indication of what is happening in your profession. With long-term job security depending on your skills being aligned to both market and business needs, benchmarking is becoming increasingly popular with people keen to progress up the career ladder.
Where do I start?
Be clear about why you want to do it. This could be to assess your relative market value before looking for another job, to assess your training and development needs for the coming year, to identify current hot skills, to discover areas where you lag behind or even to chart the rate of your career progression against the rest of your peer group.
It can also help to make you more effective in your current position, explains professor Mike Campbell, director of strategy and research at the Sector Skills Development Agency. “Benchmarking skill levels helps identify what you need to achieve business objectives. It also acts as a basis for qualifications,” Campbell says.
What should I benchmark?
Areas you might want to benchmark include specific technical HR knowledge, the salary for your position (so that you know your annual pay rise is in sync with the market rate), or how your current skills stack up against a future job.
Don’t be tempted to benchmark everything, as you run the risk of diluting the exercise. At the same time avoid being too prescriptive at the outset and seek input from others. “The key is finding areas of improvement by comparing yourself to the best or to key competitors or to the industry average,” says Campbell. “Are you near the best or lagging behind the field? How and where could you improve?”
Where do I find comparators?
As an HR professional, you’ll know whether or not your company already has tools in place to help staff benchmark their abilities.
If not, talk to specialist recruitment agencies and independent career advisers to gain sector and job comparisons. Use your professional networks for additional pointers. Job ads are also a useful way of gleaning information about what skills are in demand.
Evaluate your performance against people you studied with and work colleagues, as well as those more senior than you. You may also want to consider benchmarking your skills against the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development’s updated standards. Campbell stresses the need to be clear about how you and others measure skills. “The metrics chosen are important,” he says. “Plan the study carefully, collect data systematically and analyse it in a clear and systematic way.”
What happens next?
Once you’ve identified any weaknesses or skills gaps, make a plan to develop your capabilities in these areas. These could be addressed through training and development, but alternative routes might include requesting a secondment or volunteering for project work.
Fix a date to carry out a further benchmarking exercise and review progress. It is important not to see such exercises in isolation or as a one-off, but as something that you regularly carry out as part of career management best practice.
When used to support continuing professional development, benchmarking forms an effective strategy to ensure your skills remain current and helps you assess your standing.
For more information
Books
Benchmarking, by Sylvia Codling, Gower Publishing, ISBN 0566079267
The HR Scorecard: Linking People, Strategy and Performance, by Mark Huselid, Brian Becker, Dave Ulrich, Harvard Business School Press, ISBN 1578511364
Balanced Scorecard, by Nils Goran Olve, Anna Sjostrand, Capstone Publishing, ISBN 1841127086
Website
Business Link www.benchmarkindex.com
By Scott Beagrie. Courtesy of Personnel Today. www.personneltoday.com
