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A people scorecard the board will actually read
Ten metrics on one page, delivered on the fifth business day. What belongs on it, what does not, and the rules that keep it read.
By Finesse Blumenthal, Founder and Managing Partner.
Most board packs have a people page. Almost nobody reads it. It arrives late, it runs to four pages, it reports feelings and activity instead of economics, and nothing on it asks the board to decide anything. So the board skips to the financials, and the people function learns that the board does not care. The board cares. It was never given something it could use.
The fix is not a better dashboard. It is a discipline: ten numbers, the same ten every month, on one page, on a fixed date, each with a target and an owner, and one decision at the bottom. Here is what goes on it, what stays off it, and the six rules that keep it from turning back into the page nobody reads.
What belongs on it
The ten metrics
Each of these answers a question a board member would ask out loud. That is the test for inclusion. If nobody on the board would ask, it goes in the appendix or nowhere.
Headcount against plan
The plan was built on a number of people. This is the first thing a board checks and the one most often missing.
Open critical roles
Not every vacancy matters. The ones on the critical list do, and how long they have been open matters more.
Time to fill, critical roles
A lagging number that predicts a leading problem: if it is climbing, the plan is slipping.
Regretted attrition
Leavers you would have kept, trailing twelve months. Total attrition hides the number that costs money.
Bench depth
How many of the top roles have a named, ready successor. The board asks this the week someone resigns.
Roles inside a pay band
The share of people paid within a band, and exceptions logged. This is what diligence tests first.
Pay equity gap
The unexplained gap after role and level are controlled for. Measured, it is a plan; unmeasured, it is exposure.
Manager standard adoption
Managers meeting the written standard. Culture, as a number the board can act on.
Performance cycle completion
Reviews finished on time, with ratings that vary. A cycle where everyone is above average did not happen.
People cost per employee
Fully loaded, against plan. The line that connects everything above to the numbers the rest of the pack is built on.
What does not
Four things to leave off
These are the usual suspects on the page nobody reads. They are not useless. They are not board material.
Engagement score on its own
A feeling with no target and no owner. Keep the survey; report what you changed because of it.
Training hours and program counts
Activity, not outcome. The board cannot make a decision with it.
Headcount by every slice
Ten cuts of the same number is a data dump. One cut, against plan, is a scorecard.
Anything without a target
A number with no target is trivia. If you cannot say what good looks like, leave it off until you can.
How it stays read
Six rules
- 01One page. If it needs a second, the first has too much on it.
- 02The fifth business day, every month, whether or not the news is good.
- 03The same ten metrics with the same definitions. The moment a definition moves, the trend is gone.
- 04A target beside every number, and an owner beside every target.
- 05Red means a decision is needed, not a mood. Every red line names the decision.
- 06The one decision you need from the board this month, at the bottom, in one sentence.
The fifth business day
Why that date: it is late enough that payroll and the month-end headcount are closed, and early enough that the page lands before the rest of the board pack is assembled, so it goes in with the financials instead of behind them. The date matters less than keeping it. A scorecard that arrives on a different day each month is a report, not a rhythm.
Start with the blank page
The template beside this article is the page itself: the ten metrics with a definition for each, a column for now, a column for the target, a trend, an owner, and the one decision at the bottom. Filling it the first time takes an afternoon and will show you which of the ten you cannot produce yet. That gap is the first item on the people roadmap. It is free. Leave an email and it arrives in a minute.