The Institute for Corporate Productivity has recently published study findings which include an interactive graph that reveal the current benchmark for full time staff dedicated to human resources based on size of the organization and whether the organization is measured as a “high” performing organization or a “low” performing organization. Overall, the data reveals that 1.97 FTE are dedicated to HR for every 100 employees in high performing organizations while it is only slightly lower for low performing organizations. However, the difference between “high” and “low” is much greater when the results are narrowed down to specific sectors.
For example, if you are a non-commercial employer (this category includes public sector) in the US with less than 100 employees and measure yourself as a “high” performing organization, you report on average 1.08 full time HR employees. However, if measure yourself as a “low” performer, you report an average of 5.56 employees for the same size organization!
Contrast this with organizations with between 100 and 1000 employees; high performing organizations report on average 2.51 FTEs dedicated to HR for every 100 employees and low performing report on average 1.74 FTEs for every 100 employees.
Even larger organizations, with more than 1000 and up to 10,000 employees, show a leaner number and smaller gap. They report on average 1.24 FTEs in HR for every 100 employees in high performing organizations and 1.38 FTEs in low performing organizations.
How do we interpret this data? First of all, the category of less than 100 employees does not contain enough data points be valid, and undoubtedly contains an outlier or two, but even as anecdotal information, it points out that the HR function must be performed in every organization, regardless of size, and the scope of concerns which must be addressed may create inefficiencies. Therefore, organizations that report 0-1 dedicated staff likely outsource at least some of the HR function and those that report upwards of 5 or more are doing it all without sufficient resources and skill. The streamlined effect occurs when the organization is much larger and perhaps (we might speculate) dedicates more resources, i.e., technology and professional staff, to improving efficiencies.
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