With the changing labor market, it’s important that HR can track and monitor how quickly and efficiently an empty job position is filled in their organization. This is especially true for hard-to-fill job roles during a competitive labor market with known talent shortages. For these reasons, Time to Fill is often included in the shortlist of most important recruiting metrics that every HR team should measure, track, and benchmark. This guide will tell you everything you need to know about Time to Fill, how to calculate it, and how you can best use this metric in reports and analyses. Table of Contents What is Time to Fill? Why Measuring Time to Fill Time to Fill vs. Time to Start How to Calculate Time to Fill Examples of Using Time to Fill to Make Better Workforce Decisions What is Time to Fill? Time to Fill measures the number of days it takes to fill an open position, from the date a job requisition is posted to the date a new hire accepts the position. This metric is often expressed as an average number of days when divided by the total number of hires or positions filled. Organizations typically measure Time to Fill for externally hired positions as internal hiring requires different processes with different ranges of performance. Why Measuring Time to Fill There are several benefits to knowing your Time to Fill: Time to Fill provides a quick reference point on how long it would take to fill an empty position. Time to Fill acts as a key performance indicator (KPI) or running score for your recruiting operations. Time to Fill serves as an excellent forecasting variable and a valuable input metric for talent strategies. Time to Fill vs. Time to Start If Time to Fill is an indicator of how efficient a recruiting team is at filling an empty position start, Time to Start is the efficiency measurement of the entire recruiting process from the date a job becomes vacant till the date a new hire finishes the onboarding process and start the new position. You can visualize the differences and see a side-to-side definition comparison between Time to Fill and Time to Start below: Time to Start: Total number of calendar days from the date a job becomes vacant to the date a new hire starts work in the new position. Vs. Time to Fill: Total number of calendar days from the date a job requisition is posted to the date a new hire accepts the position. How to Calculate Time to Fill Definition: Total number of calendar days from the date a job requisition is posted to the date a new hire accepts the position, expressed as an average number of days when divided by the total number of hires or positions filled. Examples of Using Time to Fill to Make Better Workforce Decisions Example 1: Benchmark with Peers and Industry Average According to SHRM’s Talent Acquisition Benchmarking Report, the average Time to Fill is 36 days. Note that the average Time to Fill differs substantially between industries, types of positions, and hiring locations. Some positions have a smaller talent pool and therefore naturally take longer to fill. For example, the current skilled nursing shortage makes it hard for healthcare providers and hospitals to recruit bedside RN nurses. The average Time to Fill for this role is 54 days which is significantly higher than the 36 days cited in SHRM’s report. There is also a big gap between the top and bottom-performing teams. While it takes the top-performing recruiting teams on average just 34 days to fill an empty position, the bottom teams take as much as 91 days to accomplish the same task. Example 2: Cross-compare Time to Fill with Other Metrics for Additional Insights No single metric could tell the whole story of your recruiting operations. Time to Fill is no exception. The quality of new hires, cost per hire, and retention rate are just as important to recruiting performance as how quickly an empty position is being filled. We recommend that HR cross-compares Time to Fill with other employee metrics such as quality of hire metrics or indices, engagement scores, and retention rates for better insights into the talent pipelines. In the below example, you can see that Time to Fill is growing slowly over time. Taking one or two extra days to fill an empty position would not be a big concern if recruits are highly engaged and more likely to stay. In this case, not only is Time to Fill taking longer, but the average Retention Rate is also taking a big dip. This should be a warning sign that HR needs to take a closer look and examine what might have caused these issues. Example 3: Discover additional Insights by Filtering Time to Fill by various Workforce Dimensions As illustrated in Time to Start, we recommend that HR filter Time to Fill by measurement dimensions such as workforce category, critical job groups, business unit, and performance category. In doing so, management can use Time to Fill as a predictor of improved recruiting operations, increased workforce productivity, and lowered total cost of workforce. HR Analytics Software like SOLVE™️ can make this process quick and easy with data automation and dynamic filtering. Below is an example of the Time to Fill and Retention Rate at the Job category level:

HCMI participated in the prestigious HRWest 2024 HR Conference, held on March 5th and 6th in Oakland, California. Organized by HR.com, this event gathered HR leaders and professionals from across the nation to discuss and explore the latest trends and challenges in human resources management. During the conference, HCMI was prominently represented by Jeff, who delivered a compelling presentation titled “Linking People Metrics to Business Results, The ROI of People Analytics.” This session delved into the paradox where organizations, despite claiming “Our people are our most valuable asset,” often treat personnel primarily as costs to be minimized. Jeff expertly navigated through this contradiction, advocating for a model where people data drives strategic business decisions. The presentation covered essential learning objectives, including demonstrating how people are the source of value creation, identifying strategic opportunities for HR to add value, and measuring business impact from various HR activities like recruiting, retention, performance, engagement, and training. Jeff's insights provided actionable strategies for showcasing the tangible value of workforce talent, emphasizing its critical role in achieving superior business results. HCMI's participation underscored our commitment to advancing the role of HR in driving business success, highlighting our innovative approaches to people analytics. Stay tuned for upcoming posts with more insights and takeaways from the event!

This summary below was taken from Shally's Alley Podcast with Jeff Higgins, CEO of HCMI, as the guest on December 15th, 2023. In the final episode of "Shally's Alley" for 2023, host Shally Steckerl concludes the year by welcoming Jeff Higgins, a recognised expert in HR analytics and workforce planning, to give his thoughts and predictions for the future. Jeff Higgins, a former CFO turned HR specialist and the founder of the Human Capital Management Institute (HCMI), addresses the history of workforce planning, the value of data in making informed HR choices, and future trends in employee turnover and human capital reporting. Jeff emphasizes the move towards treating personnel as valuable assets rather than expenses, and forecasts higher turnover rates and new SEC reporting requirements in 2024. The talk also covers the ISO 30414 standard for human capital reporting, as well as the obstacles and opportunities in talent acquisition and workforce management. Are you prepared to maximize your employees' potential and drive revenue growth? Learn how to maximise your personnel strategy, turn your HR data into meaningful insights, and improve your bottom line with HCMI's advanced workforce planning solutions. Don't pass up the chance to steer your industry towards innovation and strategic insight. Reach out to us here and find out more about how we can use smart workforce planning to help you meet your business goals.

solve overview SOLVE™ - People & HR Analytics Software The Window into Your Workforce Schedule Demo See SOLVE™ in Action Find out why great companies like these have chosen SOLVE™ About SOLVE™ With best-practice expertise built-in, SOLVE™ provides a workforce decision hub transforming data from disparate HR and business systems into critical insights to drive business results today and build a workforce for tomorrow. Overview SOLVE™️ Answers Your Critical Workforce Questions GAIN OPERATIONAL EFFICIENCY One Source of Insights for all Data Provide secure role level access to key workforce performance metrics and drivers through a single point of access to an integrated set of enterprise-wide data. ENABLE TACTICAL EXECUTION Your Decision Hub for Talent Management On-demand access to dynamic visuals of pre-built best-in-class metrics provide a workforce decision hub for time sensitive and business critical actions. ACHIEVE STRATEGIC ADVANTAGE Linking Workforce to Financial Results Link workforce spending to business and financial outcomes to know where to cut waste and where to increase investment to deliver the best business results. Reduce Reporting Time by 95% Deliver higher value and more accurate information in a fraction of the time with SOLVE™ automated data collection, cleansing, integration and reporting. Score Results vs Benchmarks Compare your performance against industry average and peers with built-in benchmarks and labor market intelligence built into your reports and analyses. Align Workforce Plans with Business Needs Model workforce plans to align with multiple business financial scenarios to maximize flexibility to achieve the optimal workforce size, cost and productivity. See how SOLVE™️ helps you drive business results See SOLVE™️ in Action ➲ SOLVE™ Workforce Analytics Use SOLVE™ Workforce Analytics to measure, predict and optimize the financial and business impact of your workforce investments. With dynamic visualization, embedded analytics, and advanced query and slice-and-dice capabilities, SOLVE™ enables HR, business and analytics users to identify actionable insights for talent management interventions. ▶️ See SOLVE™️ in Action Workforce Analytics Workforce Productivity Measure or benchmark return on workforce investment with 10,000+ companies. Turnover and Retention Identify the key drivers of why people choose to stay or leave Recruiting Profile and optimize best talent sources via quality of hire index. Performance Discover and measure the value create by high performers. SOLVE™ Workforce Planning Use SOLVE™ Workforce Planning to model and optimize workforce supply and demand based on workforce cost, headcount, staffing levels, skills and financial projections. Create and save unlimited scenario models to find the optimal solutions to achieve financial targets and business objectives. ▶️ See SOLVE™️ in Action Key features Include: Demand Forecasting of future company and job level headcount demand based on organizational drivers and measured against Total Cost of Workforce (TCOW), total revenue and expense, and level of services provided across the organization. Supply Forecasting of talent incorporating account tenure, age, retirement projections, and historical employee movement through the organization with considerations of TCOW for the organization, job roles and functions. Retirement Calculator to project overall and job-level projected retirements with visual distribution of workforce segments by age and/or retirement eligibility. Workforce Gap Analysis to model and visualize overall supply and demand headcount gaps, map Profit per FTE against TCOW, and analyze headcount, cost, tenure, age, skills and engagement gaps against goals. Workforce Plan on a Page to provide a summary view of workforce optimization and key metrics for talent, labor cost, productivity, retention, hiring, engagement, and leadership impact. Workforce Planning Competitive Talent Intelligence SOLVE™ Competitive Talent Intelligence Get detailed insights into talent supply, demand, salary and competitor recruiting activities at the local market level with Competitive Talent Intelligence from SOLVE™. Competitor Recruiting Activities Local salary benchmark data Local talent supply and demand Learn More Ready to Talk? Get in Touch or Schedule a Demo Let's Talk

solve overview SOLVE™ - People & HR Analytics Software The Window into Your Workforce Schedule Demo See SOLVE™ in Action Find out why great companies like these have chosen SOLVE™ About SOLVE™ With best-practice expertise built-in, SOLVE™ provides a workforce decision hub transforming data from disparate HR and business systems into critical insights to drive business results today and build a workforce for tomorrow. Overview SOLVE™️ Answers Your Critical Workforce Questions GAIN OPERATIONAL EFFICIENCY One Source of Insights for all Data Provide secure role level access to key workforce performance metrics and drivers through a single point of access to an integrated set of enterprise-wide data. ENABLE TACTICAL EXECUTION Your Decision Hub for Talent Management On-demand access to dynamic visuals of pre-built best-in-class metrics provide a workforce decision hub for time sensitive and business critical actions. ACHIEVE STRATEGIC ADVANTAGE Linking Workforce to Financial Results Link workforce spending to business and financial outcomes to know where to cut waste and where to increase investment to deliver the best business results. Reduce Reporting Time by 95% Deliver higher value and more accurate information in a fraction of the time with SOLVE™ automated data collection, cleansing, integration and reporting. Score Results vs Benchmarks Compare your performance against industry average and peers with built-in benchmarks and labor market intelligence built into your reports and analyses. Align Workforce Plans with Business Needs Model workforce plans to align with multiple business financial scenarios to maximize flexibility to achieve the optimal workforce size, cost and productivity. See how SOLVE™️ helps you drive business results See SOLVE™️ in Action ➲ SOLVE™ Workforce Analytics Use SOLVE™ Workforce Analytics to measure, predict and optimize the financial and business impact of your workforce investments. With dynamic visualization, embedded analytics, and advanced query and slice-and-dice capabilities, SOLVE™ enables HR, business and analytics users to identify actionable insights for talent management interventions. ▶️ See SOLVE™️ in Action Workforce Analytics Workforce Productivity Measure or benchmark return on workforce investment with 10,000+ companies. Turnover and Retention Identify the key drivers of why people choose to stay or leave Recruiting Profile and optimize best talent sources via quality of hire index. Performance Discover and measure the value create by high performers. SOLVE™ Workforce Planning Use SOLVE™ Workforce Planning to model and optimize workforce supply and demand based on workforce cost, headcount, staffing levels, skills and financial projections. Create and save unlimited scenario models to find the optimal solutions to achieve financial targets and business objectives. ▶️ See SOLVE™️ in Action Key features Include: Demand Forecasting of future company and job level headcount demand based on organizational drivers and measured against Total Cost of Workforce (TCOW), total revenue and expense, and level of services provided across the organization. Supply Forecasting of talent incorporating account tenure, age, retirement projections, and historical employee movement through the organization with considerations of TCOW for the organization, job roles and functions. Retirement Calculator to project overall and job-level projected retirements with visual distribution of workforce segments by age and/or retirement eligibility. Workforce Gap Analysis to model and visualize overall supply and demand headcount gaps, map Profit per FTE against TCOW, and analyze headcount, cost, tenure, age, skills and engagement gaps against goals. Workforce Plan on a Page to provide a summary view of workforce optimization and key metrics for talent, labor cost, productivity, retention, hiring, engagement, and leadership impact. Workforce Planning Competitive Talent Intelligence SOLVE™ Competitive Talent Intelligence Get detailed insights into talent supply, demand, salary and competitor recruiting activities at the local market level with Competitive Talent Intelligence from SOLVE™. Competitor Recruiting Activities Local salary benchmark data Local talent supply and demand Learn More Ready to Talk? Get in Touch or Schedule a Demo Let's Talk

Client Success INSIGHTS Client successes, innovative thinking and practical advice about driving competitive advantage through advanced workforce analytics and planning Talk to Us Case Studies Explore case studies showing business analytics for human resources in action producing real ROI Learn More Read white papers authored by HCMI centered around workforce analytics, workforce productivity, and human capital management. Learn More White Papers Webinars Get how-to guidance on applying advanced workforce analytics and planning to improve business performance Learn More Published Articles Use business analytics for human resources to drive smarter workforce spending and better talent management Learn More Blog Blog posts, ViewPoints, and thought leadership on applying workforce analytics to drive smarter workforce spending Learn More Representative Client Successes Client ROI Success $1.1 Billion Annual $45 Million $15 - $20 Million Annual $96 Million Annual $1.5 Million $130 Million $1.5 Million Annual $4 Million Annual $50 Million Annual Leadership Impact on Productivity & Quality Restructuring and Streamlining R&D Attrition Reduction of 35% in Under a Year Employee Engagement Impact on Revenue Optimize Workforce Plan and Spend Optimize Workforce Location and Spend Nursing Turnover Reduction ROI of Leadership Training Predictive Drivers of Leadership Excellence Client Success