How to Write OKRs for HR When You Lack Historical Data
For HR and People Ops leaders · Based on Lobkovich No-BS OKRs Framework
// TL;DR
HR and People Ops leaders often want to improve onboarding, retention, and engagement but lack robust historical data to set precise targets. The No-BS OKRs framework is built for this. You name the territory in a Theme like 'Onboarding Excellence,' write a purpose-driven objective about equipping and welcoming new hires, and combine Outcome, Progress, and Target Behavior Key Results — the last counting behaviours like new hires proactively connecting with colleagues. Use it each cycle to move from vague people initiatives to a focused, measurable set that shapes daily decisions and proves impact.
Why is goal-setting hard for HR teams?
HR sits in a data-sparse environment: you rarely have the clean historical baselines that sales or engineering enjoy, and much of your impact — belonging, equipping new hires, retention — is qualitative until you instrument it. Traditional OKR advice pushes hard metrics you can't yet produce, so People Ops goals often stay vague and unmeasured. The No-BS OKRs framework fixes this with directional objectives and Target Behavior Key Results that count observable behaviours before richer metrics exist.
How do I frame an HR OKR set?
Begin with a Theme — a short phrase like 'Onboarding Excellence' that instantly signals the strategic territory. Then write your Objective using [Action] + [what you're creating] + [why it matters]: Build an onboarding experience that makes new hires feel genuinely equipped and welcomed so they contribute meaningfully faster and stay longer. It's directional and carries a real 'why' — no numbers inside it.
Avoid weak verbs like 'support' or 'help.' Use strong directional verbs — build, establish, transform — so the objective inspires alignment in how the team works, not just what it delivers.
How do I measure people outcomes without rich data?
Combine all three key result types:
- Outcome Key Result: Improve 90-day new hire retention rate from 72% to 88% by end of year. You influence this strongly but don't fully control it — managers, market, and role fit all play a part.
- Progress Key Result: Reduce average time-to-first-meaningful-contribution from 45 days to 28 days by Q3. A leading indicator that, if hit, makes the retention outcome more likely.
- Target Behavior Key Result: Increase new hires proactively reaching out to connect with cross-functional colleagues in their first 30 days from two instances per cohort to eight.
That behaviour count instruments belonging and integration before you have a formal engagement survey. Don't dismiss it as soft — counting observable behaviours is a legitimate, powerful approach in data-sparse settings, and it builds your measurement muscle.
How do I keep HR OKRs from becoming a wish list?
HR touches everything, so the risk is a sprawling list of initiatives. Apply judicious prioritisation over comprehensive coverage: surface only the few goals that create genuine clarity about what matters most this cycle. One objective with two or three key results delivers more focus than ten scattered metrics.
Stress-test before finalising: Does the objective explain why it matters, not just what? Do all key results describe outcomes or progress — with zero activity language like 'launch a program'? Is the set small enough to focus the team? Could two observers agree whether each target was hit? Is it ambitious but not fabricated?
Then make it a living tool. Confirm the cycle, assign ownership, and review the retention, time-to-contribution, and connection-behaviour numbers in regular check-ins — letting them drive real decisions about where to invest onboarding effort.
Next step: Pick one people priority for this cycle, draft an 'Excellence'-style theme and directional objective, and design one Target Behavior Key Result you can start counting immediately.
// FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
How do I set retention OKRs without years of historical data?
Set a credible Outcome Key Result from whatever baseline you have — for example, improving 90-day retention from 72% to 88% by year end — and pair it with a Target Behavior Key Result that counts leading behaviours like new hires proactively connecting with colleagues. The behaviour count instruments early signals of belonging before richer retention data accumulates.
What activity language should HR avoid in key results?
Avoid verbs like conduct, run, hold, launch, or deliver — 'run an onboarding workshop' is activity, not a key result. Instead, describe what becomes measurably true if that work succeeds, such as reducing time-to-first-meaningful-contribution from 45 to 28 days. Activities belong in your project plan; key results capture the outcomes those activities produce.
Can employee engagement be a Target Behavior Key Result?
Yes. When you lack a formal engagement survey, count a specific observable behaviour that signals engagement — like new hires proactively reaching out to cross-functional colleagues, moving from two to eight instances per cohort. This gives you a countable, directional signal and builds your measurement muscle until richer engagement metrics exist.