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HR Performance

The gauge. Two failure modes destroy HR value: hiring into process debt, and measuring compliance instead of contribution.

What Good Looks Like​

Contribution velocity — new hires produce their first meaningful output within 30 days, are contributing independently within 90 days. Source: industry benchmark; adjust for role complexity.

Attrition rate — below 15% annually for the whole team; below 8% for 90-day tenure. High 90-day attrition signals onboarding failure, not role fit failure. Threshold: over 10% in first 90 days triggers immediate onboarding audit.

Time to hire — under 30 days for standard roles; under 60 days for senior/technical roles. Longer signals either market depth problem or internal process problem. Measure from role open to offer accepted, not to start date.

ZPD assignment quality — each person has a next challenge sized just above current capability with an MKO available. Proxy: does each team member have one specific stretch goal they are currently working toward? Qualitative; assessed in monthly 1:1s.

Process documentation ratio — % of core workflows documented vs. person-dependent. Target: no critical process owned by one person. Minimum threshold before any new hire: 80% of the role's core workflows documented.

What Bad Looks Like​

Firefighting recruitment — roles open because capacity collapsed, not because the team scaled. Symptom: 3+ urgent roles open simultaneously, no pipeline pre-built. Indicator: time-to-hire over 60 days on standard roles.

90-day attrition spike — new hires leave before contribution velocity is reached. Every exit at 90 days costs 1.5× salary in replacement cost and 90 days of growth delay. Threshold: over 2 in 90 days in same function = structural onboarding problem.

Process debt accumulation — new hires inherit undocumented workflows. Symptom: onboarding time increasing quarter-over-quarter without complexity increase. Indicator: beginner's mind questions not captured after each onboarding cohort.

AI application overload — screening queue volume makes individual candidate assessment impossible. Ratio of AI-generated to human-written applications above 10:1 signals collapse of signal quality. Indicator: recruiter-to-application ratio over 1:200 per week.

Character-fit failures — technically strong hires who damage culture. Symptom: team performance metrics decline after a hire despite increased headcount. Indicator: team eNPS drop of over 10 points in quarter of hire.

Warning Signals​

  • Recruitment triggered by crisis, not pipeline — always be recruiting discipline is absent
  • Onboarding checklist exists but MKO assignment does not — structure without mentorship
  • Performance reviews happen annually — feedback loop too slow to catch ZPD drift
  • Job descriptions list credentials, not contribution outcomes — attracts credential-seekers not builders
  • AI screening tools active but bias audit not run — AI narrows pool in undocumented ways

Decision Flows​

When to hire vs. automate:

  1. Document the workflow fully
  2. Score against AI capability scan (what % of this role can an agent handle in 12 months?)
  3. If over 60%: explore automation before hiring; if under 30%: hire; if 30–60%: hire + build automation in parallel
  4. Decision owner: founding team at seed; People Lead at growth; CPO + CFO at scale

When to use contractor vs. employee:

  1. Is this a defined-outcome project (under 6 months)? → Contractor
  2. Does the work require institutional knowledge that compounds? → Employee
  3. Can the contractor document their process (required in contract terms)? → Contractor acceptable
  4. Decision owner: department head, reviewed by Finance

90-day attrition trigger:

  1. Exit interview within 48 hours — structured, not performative
  2. Identify: onboarding failure / role fit failure / culture failure
  3. Route to: onboarding process audit / JD rewrite / culture assessment
  4. Owner: People Lead; escalate to founding team if 2+ in same quarter

Context​

  • Principles — what the gauges are measuring against
  • Process — the workflows these metrics evaluate
  • Scoreboard — measurement across all business dimensions