Absence
Tracked after it happens.
The Missing KPI
The KPI most organisations don't have.
Revenue, customers, operations, it's all tracked. But there's one area most organisations still manage blind: how their people feel about working for them.
The gap no one owns
Most organisations already measure the outcomes of people problems.
Turnover
Tracked after someone leaves.
Recruitment & training costs
Tracked after the role is backfilled.
Productivity & service quality
Tracked after standards slip.
These numbers matter. But they all arrive after something has already gone wrong. By the time absence rises or resignations appear, the pressure has been building for months, capability lost, costs locked in.
The gap isn't effort or intent. It's timing.
A simple question with an expensive answer
How do our people feel about working here, out of 100, and why?
Most leadership teams can't answer this clearly. Most rely on annual or biannual surveys, anecdote and assumption, or lagging indicators that explain the past, not always-on employee feedback.
The result is a blind spot: pressure building quietly until it turns into disruption, cost, or risk.
In today's environment, not knowing early isn't neutral. It's a management risk.
Why this matters commercially
People problems don't start as costs. They start as pressure.
Pressure builds before it becomes withdrawal, conflict, absence, attrition, or performance issues.
When leaders can only see the outcome, they're forced to react late, under pressure and at higher cost. Earlier visibility doesn't guarantee perfect outcomes. But it does reduce avoidable ones. That's where most people cost lives.
What's missing isn't another tool
Engagement surveys are episodic. People analytics dashboards are complex. Reports explain what already happened.
What's missing is a KPI.
Why a KPI changes behaviour
Simple, numeric, repeatable, visible.
Simple
Nothing to configure or interpret.
Numeric
A single figure leaders instantly understand.
Repeatable
The same question, every cycle.
Visible
Travels easily into leadership conversations.
They create a shared reference point, travel easily into leadership conversations, and get revisited without prompting. Once something is measured and visible, it gets managed, even without enforcement.
Why now
The operating environment has changed.
—Work is more distributed and less observable.
—People issues surface faster and escalate publicly sooner.
—Absence, churn, and recruitment costs continue to rise.
—Boards tolerate fewer surprises and less reactive explanation.
—Most people metrics still look backwards.
The gap between reality and visibility is widening, and getting more expensive.
What this changes
When organisations introduce a clear, shared measure of how their people feel at work:
—Pressure becomes visible earlier.
—Conversations move from anecdote to fact.
—Leaders see patterns instead of reacting to noise.
—Avoidable people cost reduces over time.
Not because behaviour is forced, but because visibility changes what leaders pay attention to.
EHS isn't about being kinder. It's about managing better.
The missing KPI
Make the feeling visible, early enough to manage.
Start with one score. Decide what comes next with a clearer view of your team