The News: Performance management platform provider 15Five has introduced its HR Outcomes Dashboard, a tool that consolidates real-time data across a variety of sources so HR leaders can measure, analyze, and act, armed with solid data to create positive business outcomes. This addition to 15Five’s performance management solution set uses its own platform data to create insights focused around three outcomes: maximizing employee performance, lowering regrettable turnover, and improving employee engagement. One of the keys to fostering a favorable employee experience is the employee-manager relationship, and the HR Outcomes Dashboard also includes a measure of effectiveness. See the complete Press Release about the HR Outcomes Dashboard on the 15Five website.
15Five Launches HR Outcomes Dashboard
Analyst Take: 15Five’s launch of the HR Outcomes Dashboard promises to solve key pain points for HR and C-level executives including tying together, measuring, and analyzing performance management data in real time that is coming from disparate sources. Further, the dashboard not only brings to light actions that might need to be taken but raises the overall visibility of performance management programs and the outcomes they produce, which have bottom-line business impacts.
I was able to speak with 15Five’s Head of Product, Jeff Smith and Mike Pilarz, Senior Director of Corporate Marketing, to learn more about this new addition and also chat about the increased need to bring visibility to the solutions that will help improve employee experience.
15Five was founded in 2011 and has over 3,500 companies using its technology including Credit Karma, Indeed, and HubSpot. Its platform currently consists of three primary components:
- Engage (surveys, reporting, recommended actions)
- Perform (360 reviews, continuous feedback, talent matrix & calibrations, OKRs and goal management)
- Transform (manager training, coaching, community)
“We are really proud of the fact that there are about 440,000 humans using 15Five within their flow of work. Managers, employees, and everybody in the organization can stay oriented around a really clear set of objectives with the ability to track their progress. And HR teams can better understand what is making their employees engaged or disengaged and how they can move the needle on that,” says Mike Pilarz.
The Struggle for HR to Get a Seat at the Table
Pilarz walked through some of the feedback 15Five has received from the industry that revealed the struggles HR leaders face in being viewed as bringing strategic value to the organization. There is still often a perception of HR as an administrative, tactical unit. Demonstrating tangible value is sometimes difficult, as HR can get wrapped up in day-to day-minutiae and often lacks a cohesive picture of metrics that prove broader business impact and are important to the C-suite.
This disconnect can be a challenge when seeking support and funding for initiatives and technologies.
Focus on Outcomes for Engagement, Performance, Turnover, and Manager Effectiveness
The HR Outcomes Dashboard adds a layer across the 15Five platform that provides a more robust view of employee metrics. It brings credibility to HR as a more strategic partner in the organization and the fuel for needed changes.
“The development of the dashboard metrics came from conversations we had with HR leaders who wanted to be able to walk into a meeting to show actual metrics tied to the actions that were being taken – what has been effective, what hasn’t been. This can be based on the individual things the company has identified as contributing to the overall health of the organization. It helps to build trust with executive leadership teams and it also helps to position HR to become less reactive and more proactive and impactful,” says Jeff Smith.
The HR Outcomes Dashboard focuses on a few key areas that have a large impact on both employees and the company as a whole: manager effectiveness, engagement, performance, and turnover. It can provide a view into how they relate and how they trend over time. There is the ability to drill down more deeply than the overarching view, looking at departments, teams, and managers to identify where and what action might need to be taken.
The data itself is pulled from the 15Five platform, and there is also the capability to benchmark against other companies.
The Manager Effectiveness Indicator is an important factor, as research shows that managers have a tremendous influence on employee retention, engagement, and performance. Identifying areas where managers can be more effective and where they could benefit from support will have a trickle-down effect throughout the organization.
“We very intentionally chose the term Indicator, rather than rating or score because we want to avoid people looking at this like a report card. We want this to be a facilitator for managers in how they show up, based on data that creates a view that is fairer and more consistent and less anecdotal. The other important piece here is identifying those areas where managers might need support, as it helps us to inform the content that 15Five is making for the education and coaching we provide through our software,” says Smith.
Proof Points for Investment
The ability to measure turnover and tie it to actions that are taken (or not taken) can be a real selling point to C-level executives, as resignations, recruitment, and rehiring impact the balance sheet.
It’s important to keep in mind all the factors that could go into retention, as well as the less easily identified losses such as work disruption and the worrying effect resignations can have within an organization. 15Five indicated that companies are starting to take this broader view, working to head off the risk of employee churn proactively.
“Of course, people want to talk about retention, especially retention of high performing employees. But organizations are also looking a bit more forward into the future, and that’s where engagement and manager effectiveness come in because they can enable a dialogue before a person is considering walking out the door,” says Smith.
The HR Outcomes Dashboard is available now.
Disclosure: The Futurum Group is a research and advisory firm that engages or has engaged in research, analysis, and advisory services with many technology companies, including those mentioned in this article. The author does not hold any equity positions with any company mentioned in this article.
Analysis and opinions expressed herein are specific to the analyst individually and data and other information that might have been provided for validation, not those of The Futurum Group as a whole.
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Author Information
As a detail-oriented researcher, Sherril is expert at discovering, gathering and compiling industry and market data to create clear, actionable market and competitive intelligence. With deep experience in market analysis and segmentation she is a consummate collaborator with strong communication skills adept at supporting and forming relationships with cross-functional teams in all levels of organizations.
She brings more than 20 years of experience in technology research and marketing; prior to her current role, she was a Research Analyst at Omdia, authoring market and ecosystem reports on Artificial Intelligence, Robotics, and User Interface technologies. Sherril was previously Manager of Market Research at Intrado Life and Safety, providing competitive analysis and intelligence, business development support, and analyst relations.
Sherril holds a Master of Business Administration in Marketing from University of Colorado, Boulder and a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology from Rutgers University.
