How to take your vacancy reporting capabilities to the next level

Table of contents

What is a vacancy report & why is it important?

Whether your organisation structure is built around role based management or person-to-person reporting, maintaining clear visibility over vacant positions and associated KPIs is critical to making informed business decisions. A key driver for successful workforce planning is understanding the metrics around what vacant positions exist and the ‘time to fill’ for key positions.

Many organisations have very limited access to basic information that they need, often turning to applicant tracking systems to improve their time to hire (and time to fill). Maintaining a simple vacant position report is a good solution for the short term, though this report is lacking helpful metrics and KPIs that highlight the areas that need attention.

Here are some examples of common vacancy metrics that are useful for reporting:

• Position count: The number of positions or roles within a specific department or the entire organisation
• Vacancy rate: The percentage of positions that are currently vacant, usually by org unit or entire span of control
• Current vacant positions: Roles or positions that are currently unoccupied or not filled by an employee
• Future vacant positions: Positions that are expected to become vacant in the future due to retirement, resignation, promotion or other workforce changes
• Ageing of vacant positions (time to fill): Average number of days to fill a position (Date Position Filled – Date Position Became Vacant), a longer time to fill may suggest inefficiencies in the recruitment process
• Critical vacant positions: open positions that are identified as critical are generally key drivers within the organisation
• Manager vacant positions: Open manager-role position with one or more direct reports

Vacancy reporting chart example

Most organisations that we’ve worked with were looking for a better way to manage vacant positions, the example below is a best practice vacancy chart in org.manager – a solution that effectively visualises vacant positions while leveraging org chart / hierarchical based reporting.

org.manager allows companies to organise their key metrics based on org units (departments, cost centres, business units, etc.), span of control and visualisation rules. This particular example displays incumbents and vacant positions now and in the future. Vacant positions that have been open for more that 60 days have been highlighted with a red left side border.

Tip: This view can be customised based on your business requirements. Use visualisation rules to highlight key information that is important for analysis, or hide fields to reduce the amount of information shown on screen for a more focused view. One example might be ‘show only vacant Manager positions’.

How vacancy reporting software will improve your business

Vacancy reporting software can help organisations to manage their workforce more effectively, allowing their leaders to make more informed decisions that will improve strategy and optimise recruitment processes.

When creating a vacancy report, here’s a few use case requirements to check off to ensure that you’re covering all bases:

• Does it show the percentage of vacant positions for each department?
• What current positions have not been filled for more more than 60 days?
• Where are there vacant Supervisor positions?
• Where are the critical vacant positions?
• What positions will be opening in the future that require filling?
• How can I generated a simple report that shows all vacant positions across the organisation or by specific org unit (dept, division, cost centre, etc.)?
• How can I create a simple visualisation to present a PowerPoint slide deck of vacant positions to the management team?

Additional use cases can be supported if the appropriate information is provided, e.g. good vs. bad turnover based on termination codes or successors assigned to positions that are vacated or will be vacated in the future.

Here are 5 ways that leave management reporting software will help to level up your business:

Talent acquisition & recruitment strategy: Reporting on vacancies allows you to identify trends in recruitment, such as which positions are consistently difficult to fill, the time it takes to fill a vacancy and the effectiveness of different recruitment channels. This information helps refine and optimise the overall talent acquisition strategy.

Time-to-fill optimisation: Vacancy reports can highlight the average time it takes to fill open positions. By identifying inefficiencies in the recruitment process, you can implement strategies to streamline processes, reduce time-to-fill and minimise disruptions in workflow.

Succession planning: Vacancy reports can you identify roles that are critical to the business’s success. This information is valuable for succession planning, allowing you to develop talent pipelines and ensure a smooth transition when key employees leave or retire. Analysing vacancies provides insights into the skills and qualifications needed for various positions. This information aids in identifying skill gaps and informs targeted training and development programs to enhance the capabilities of current employees.

Employee engagement & retention: High vacancy rates can lead to increased workloads for existing employees. Reporting on vacancies helps organisations recognise workload issues early on, allowing them to implement strategies to alleviate stress, prevent burnout and improve overall employee satisfaction and retention.

Diversity & inclusion: Vacancy reports can include data on the diversity of candidates applying for and being hired into open positions. Organisations can use this information to assess the effectiveness of diversity and inclusion initiatives, identify areas for improvement and work towards building a more diverse workforce.