7 Things Every People Operations Leader Needs Saved on Their Computer

Even back in 2012, data was showing just how much employee engagement matters. Gallup’s 2012 employee engagement assessment found some startling outcomes. Data from 263 studies (including 192 organizations across 49 industries and 34 countries) found that those in the top quartile significantly outperformed those in the bottom quartile.

Specifically, those at the top of employee engagement saw:

• 10% better performance on customer rating
• 22% more profitability
• 21% more productivity

Ultimately, Gallup reports that “those at the 99th percentile had four times the success rates of those at the first percentile.”

Those are some serious numbers. Considering that data, employee satisfaction and engagement are the central pillars of people operations, the importance of POPs speaks for itself.

Employee satisfaction and engagement are the central pillars of people operations.

Whether you’re just getting started in people ops or you’re looking to make sure you’re using the best tools available, we’ve got you covered. In addition to our Ultimate Zip File for People Operations Managers, here are the seven key tools that all people ops leaders should have on their computer.

People ops need payroll report templates

While people ops takes traditional HR in a new direction, it’s still often responsible for some of the key HR duties like reports. One of those traditional roles that people ops is often responsible for is payroll reports.

There’s simply no getting around it — you need to know how much you’re spending on your workforce. Unlike labor reports (more on that later!), payroll reports are only about the money you pay employees in terms of wages, benefits, stock options, commissions, and more. A payroll report also tracks the taxes you pay on federal, state, and local levels.

As you can see, it’s simply mission-critical to have this information accurately reported and documented. A dedicated payroll report template makes this sometimes arduous process much easier to execute.

An onboarding template

An onboarding template is just one of those things that makes people ops work so much easier. All you need to do is invest the time in creating one.

As your business changes, the onboarding template will have to be updated, but ultimately that work serves both you and your new hires.

As your business changes, be sure to update your onboarding template.

A quality onboarding template will be a document, folder, .zip file, or another format that houses the items, information, and documents that a new employee will need. An onboarding template is a built-in reminder for all the information a new hire needs that someone who’s been there longer might easily forget. Plus, it’s always easier to start a job when you know who your cubicle mates are and how to make coffee in the office kitchen from day one.

The employee handbook

While employee handbooks have traditionally been a hard copy endeavor, the digital age has changed even that. Now employee handbooks are often at least offered in a digital format — a growing trend among businesses with remote employees.

As a people ops leader, you will want to have your employee handbook on your computer so that you can easily reference it throughout the days and weeks of work. More importantly, though, you’ll want to have it on your computer so that you can mark any updates or changes you’d like to make to next year’s handbook. An up-to-date handbook is critical for employee success.

People ops need new hire checklists

People ops focuses on employees as the customer and to improve employee experience.

Another key element that sets people ops apart from traditional HR is the focus on the employee as the customer. When employee engagement, satisfaction, happiness, and — ultimately — retention are the metrics that matter, the employee experience becomes critical.

Not only is the employee experience critical from day one, but from before they even join as well. A quality new hire checklist will have to-do items that begin before day one to ensure that each new hire’s experience is seamless. (E.g., ensuring that they have a computer that’s ready to go and that they’ve been walked through all the documents they’ll need on day one.)

A labor report template

Not only are labor reports critical if your organization ever gets audited, they’re also full of important data for your people ops work.

One of the key things about people ops is that it takes a data-driven approach to its work. Labor reports offer valuable insights into potential burnout issues.

Has there been a big uptick in overtime hours that your employees are working? Maybe absenteeism has been up and attendance has been suffering as a result. Insights like these that a payroll report offers are critical data points on how healthy and balanced (or not) your workforce is.

An employee engagement survey: An important people ops need

If employees are your customers, how engaged they are in their work is an important metric you don’t want to leave out.

The good thing about employee engagement is that you can easily measure it through employee engagement surveys. A template for an employee engagement survey is a great thing to have, but you don’t want to send out the same thing every time.

Employee engagement is easily measured through engagement surveys or pulse surveys.

Look at the information you got last time and use new surveys as opportunities to uncover new insights or drill down deeper into answers you got last time. An easily customizable template takes the hassle out of regularly surveying employee engagement.

A retention rate forecast

Just like how companies big and small measure their customer retention rates, you should be doing the same thing with your employees.

Not only does this give you valuable insight into how satisfied, happy, and likely to hang around your employees are, but it can tell you if and when you need to start ramping up your recruitment and hiring efforts. With data, surprises are minimal — and in people ops work, that’s a good thing!