At-Risk Employees
Count of employees actively flagged as flight risk by managers, based on engagement signals (skip-level surveys, manager 1:1s, counter-offer activity, tenure-curve risk). A leading indicator that complements the lagging `hr.voluntary_exits` number. Common pitfall: stale flags that never get cleared — at-risk lists tend to drift toward "every senior IC ever" without manager discipline. Best practice is a quarterly refresh with explicit add/remove notes and an action attached to each flag. — HR KPI, I'mBoard-authored (editorial tier).
I'mBoard-authored (editorial tier)
No public third-party standard anchors this KPI yet, so I'mBoard authors and maintains the definition — transparently labeled as editorial tier. See the ontology methodology for the published vs editorial tier system and the back-attribution workstream.
Rogue ID: hr.at_risk_count
Type: Number
Domain: HR
Definition
Count of employees actively flagged as flight risk by managers, based on engagement signals (skip-level surveys, manager 1:1s, counter-offer activity, tenure-curve risk). A leading indicator that complements the lagging hr.voluntary_exits number. Common pitfall: stale flags that never get cleared — at-risk lists tend to drift toward "every senior IC ever" without manager discipline. Best practice is a quarterly refresh with explicit add/remove notes and an action attached to each flag.
Formula
Count of currently-flagged active employees on the retention watchlist. Flag criteria are company-defined but typically include: declining 1:1 engagement, missed comp expectations, counter-offer activity, or manager-flagged tenure-curve risk. Convention: flags expire 90 days after entry unless renewed.Why it matters
Converts manager intuition into a board-readable risk count, and pairs naturally with hr.retention_initiatives so the board sees risk and response together. A rising at-risk count without rising retention activity is a yellow flag.
How to interpret
Read alongside hr.voluntary_exits — at-risk count should lead exits by 1–2 quarters. Concentration in one team or level is more diagnostic than the absolute number. Sustained at-risk count above ~10–15% of headcount typically warrants a targeted retention program (industry folk-wisdom, not citation-grade).
Related KPIs
hr.voluntary_exitshr.voluntary_turnover_ratehr.retention_initiativeshr.talent_challenges
Source
I'mBoard editorial — authored and maintained by I'mBoard, first published 2026-04-01. No third-party standard is cited for this KPI; when one emerges, the definition is back-attributed and promoted to the published tier (a minor version bump). Read the ontology methodology for the published vs editorial tier system, attribution rules, and dispute process.
Stage relevance
| Company stage | Priority |
|---|---|
| Series A | Recommended |
| Series B | Recommended |
| Series C+ | Recommended |
| Public | Recommended |
Suggested for stages: Series A, Series B, Series C+, Public.
Default owning functions
- HR
Machine-readable
- This KPI as JSON:
/api/ontology/hr/at_risk_count.json - All HR KPIs:
/api/ontology/hr.json - Full catalog:
/api/ontology/index.json
ARR per FTE
Annual Recurring Revenue divided by total FTE-equivalent workforce — the canonical SaaS workforce-productivity ratio anchored to the SaaS Capital Annual Survey methodology (revenue per employee benchmarks). A high-signal denominator for "are we over- or under-staffed for our revenue scale?" Common pitfall: choosing different ARR conventions (ending vs average, GAAP-reconciled vs raw) without locking in a board-level standard. Best practice is to pair this with `sales.arr` so the numerator is unambiguous and to disclose whether contractors are included in the FTE denominator. — HR KPI anchored to SaaS Capital Annual Survey 2025 (14th Annual).
Average Days to Fill
Mean elapsed days between requisition opening (approved and posted) and offer acceptance, averaged across requisitions filled in the period. The headline recruiting-velocity KPI commonly tracked in the SHRM Talent Acquisition Benchmarking Report. Common pitfall: choosing between time-to-fill (req-opened to offer-accepted) and time-to-hire (first-applicant to offer-accepted) without locking the convention — the two can differ by weeks. Best practice is to standardize on time-to-fill (the SHRM benchmark convention) and document any deviation. — HR KPI anchored to SHRM Talent Acquisition Benchmarking Report.