Health Human Resource Data

Bring your staffing data together with your quality data

After joining OnSPARK, in addition to quality indicators, homes have the opportunity to add Health Human Resource indicators to their Portal. Payroll, scheduling and employee census data your home already collects directly informs these HHR indicators.

What is the value in adding HHR to the Portal?

    • See what the Ministry survey can't. OnSPARK offers HHR indicators including overtime, sick time, absent and no-show hours, uncovered shifts, shift-mix ratios (day, evening, night), staff tenure, and workforce demographics.

    • Unit-level insights. Helping to identify which unit relies on overtime or agency staff, Personal Support Worker (PSW) indicators are shown at the unit-level, while Registered Nurse (RN) and Registered Practical Nurse (RPN) indicators are displayed at the home and organization levels.

    • Manage cost efficiency. Homes can monitor overtime and agency hours, shown as a share of direct-care hours, to proactively flag cost pressures early and support evidence-based decision-making.

    • Reduce scheduling burdens. OnSPARK indicators help schedulers identify unit-level absence and uncovered shift hours, allowing them to better plan relief and cut last-minute call-ins and double shifts in the future, reducing administrative burdens and care risks.

    • Link staffing to resident care outcomes. Compare your HHR workforce indicators with resident quality indicators to support evidence-based quality improvement and better care across your units.

    • Support workforce Track staff turnover, tenure and employment-type mix (full-time, part-time, casual) to identify where experienced staff are leaving and manage retirement turnover.

Book your HHR onboarding meeting with the OnSPARK team

Email support@onspark.ca

OnSPARK simplifies your data collection

MLTC Staffing Survey HHR in OnSPARK's Portal
How data is produced Staff calculate and key in totals by hand Calculated for you from data you already keep
Level of detail Whole home Unit, home and organization; by RN, RPN and PSW
What you see Counts and hours Trends over time, anonymized peer benchmarking, and clear indicator definitions and calculations
Overtime, absence, no-shows, uncovered shifts, shift mix, tenure Not collected Reported every period

Get started with HHR

HHR data sharing is covered under your home's existing OnSPARK Data Sharing Agreement. The OnSPARK team works with your IT and HR staff, and your vendor if helpful, at each step.

  • Talk through the data intake process. Bring any questions or concerns; they are answered before any data is shared.

    • Confirm which systems hold your scheduling, payroll and HR records and who will run the exports.

    • Choose how to transfer: all homes at once, one home at a time, or by month, quarter or year.

    • Files should be exported as CSV.

  • Share a sample of each record type. OnSPARK confirms the exports contain what's needed and may follow up with questions about your codes.

  • Once questions are resolved, share the agreed files through your secure file transfer method, in this order:

    1. Employee census

    2. Scheduling

    3. Payroll and code legend

    4. Any additional files

  • After the first transfer, send new records quarterly. Once a data flow is agreed, OnSPARK aims to display submitted data within one month of receiving it.

    Quarterly schedule

    • Q1 April – June - Send in July

    • Q2 July – September - Send in October

    • Q3 October – December - Send in January

    • Q4 January – March - Send in April

  • Review unit- and home-level trends, compare with peer homes, and use the figures to prepare your Staffing Survey.

How we protect your HHR data

OnSPARK's data governance policies keep all HHR data use in the Portal secure, compliant and aligned with benefiting the sector. See OnSPARK's full Privacy Policy for details.

  • It is the responsibility of the home to review information being sent. Records are linked only by a unique employee ID number. OnSPARK does not ask for:

    • Employee names and birth dates

    • A unique anonymous employee ID on every record

    • The same employee ID used across census, scheduling and payroll

    • Date ranges on all records, confirmed with OnSPARK

    • Code legend for pay codes, shift codes, departments and units attached

  • Records move through a secure file transfer process agreed with your team in the initial meetings.

  • Once transferred, your data is stored in McMaster's secure storage environment and held pseudonymized, so records link over time without revealing who employees are.

  • Results reported back to your home are aggregated to the unit level. Peer comparisons are anonymous.