Benchmark Your HR

A time to hire of 30-45 days is the US average according to SHRM 2025 data. Under 25 days is considered strong performance. Over 60 days risks losing top candidates to faster-moving competitors, since the best candidates are typically off the market within 10-14 days.

Annual voluntary turnover averaging 15-20% is common across US industries according to SHRM 2025 benchmarks. Technology companies average 13%, professional services 12-15%, and retail can exceed 60% annually. Turnover below 10% is considered excellent and indicates strong culture and compensation.

The average US company invests $1,280-2,000 per employee annually on training according to ATD State of the Industry data. High-growth companies invest 2-4% of payroll. Companies spending $1,500 or more per employee see 24% higher profit margins compared to those that invest less, per ATD research.

Benchmarks are sourced from SHRM HR Practices Benchmark 2025, SHRM Human Capital Benchmarking Report, and XpertHR salary and HR surveys, together covering more than 5,000 US employers across industries and company sizes.

The standard benchmark is 1 HR professional per 100 employees according to SHRM Human Capital Benchmarking data. Companies under 250 employees typically need 1 per 50-75 due to fixed compliance work. Above 500 employees the ratio improves to 1 per 100-150 as processes scale and HR technology handles routine tasks.

An eNPS of 10-20 is average for most US employers according to Gallup and SHRM benchmark data. Above 40 is excellent and typically signals a top-quartile employer brand. Below 0 means more employee detractors than promoters, which indicates serious engagement or culture problems that will drive turnover within 12 months.

Build an employee referral program (referrals cost 40% less and stay 25% longer), strengthen employer brand, and reduce reliance on agencies which charge 15-25% of salary.

HR maturity measures how structured and effective your people operations are across a spectrum from ad-hoc reactive hiring to strategic workforce planning backed by data-driven decisions.

Replacement recruitment cost, onboarding and training, lost productivity during ramp-up, knowledge drain, management time, and temporary cover, totaling 50-200% of the departing employee's annual salary per departure.

Job board advertising, agency fees, recruiter time, interview time (hiring manager plus panel), skills assessments, onboarding, and productivity ramp-up to produce a full cost-per-hire figure.

Lower salary costs, government funding incentives, loyalty, and the ability to train someone in your exact processes. Apprentices often become your most committed long-term employees.

Recognition, growth opportunities, manager quality, organizational alignment, role clarity, psychological safety, recommendation likelihood (eNPS), intent to stay, and the single biggest improvement opportunity. Gallup 2025 data shows these dimensions correlate most strongly with retention and productivity.