HR Analytics
While the word “human” is in the title, human resources can and should utilize the help of data, metrics and analytics that can help HR do more with the resources they have as well as get more from the workforce and employment pool. It takes analytics to understand how team members achieve personal and career goals and how to place them in the overall plan for the company.
Goal
To utilize analytics to ensure HR teams are resourced properly, to measure employee retention and turnover, the costs associated with turnover, to measure the success of HR initiatives and to add value to organizations by providing metrics related to HR decisions.
What is HR Analytics?
HR leaders must align HR data and initiatives to the organization’s strategic goals. HR analytics’ provides better insight into human resource processes, gathering related data and then using this data to make informed decisions on how to improve these processes. It is also defined as the area in the field of analytics that deals with people analytics and applying analytical process to the human capital within the organization to improve employee performance and improving employee retention. It should not be confused with “people analytics” or “workforce analytics,” which are generally applied to customers (not necessarily employees) and employees, respectively.
How does HR Analytics improve employee engagement and culture?
For employees to be engaged, HR must have a solid grasp of how its processes, training, and initiatives are affecting the workforce. Measuring those items, through analytics, allows HR to pinpoint what works and what does not, what retains employees and what does not, and what the full potential of relevant training courses for employees can/should be. HR analytics can also improve the hiring process by collecting data from previous hires sessions. A better hiring process leads to hiring the right candidates, which ultimately leads to employees that are engaged in the work they want to be doing.
What are the benefits?
Better hiring practices.
Decreased turnover
Task automation.
Process improvement.
Improved employee experience.
More productive workforce.
Improved workforce planning through informed talent development.
How do you conduct HR Analytics in the workplace?
When considering an HR analytics program, it is important to develop key metrics and KPIs or key performance indicators. Once defined, it is vial to know where your data comes from or how you are currently gathering data. Can it be measured? Is it sufficient to make conclusions? Work with an HR analytics firm to determine the data infrastructure and predictive models. With that training, onboarding and retention strategies can be developed with the data acquired.
Action
Improving Processes Through HR Analytics
Centralize all employee data: Taking disparate sources of employee data into one central repository will allow information from different systems to be accessed and assessed.
Create an HR Dashboard: Dashboards are used as a “one-stop-shop” to visualize all internal and external data. It is easier to benchmark and monitor data to derive insights into HR metrics.
Build analytical capabilities: The HR team will need to build up its analytics capabilities to properly translate, define and execute on the information acquired. Once a team is built that can analyze the information properly, HR can establish business reasons for its decisions.
Put HR analytics into practice: Now is the time to use the information to identify problems that need to be addressed. Whether it’s retention, reducing costs-per-hire, putting the HR analytics to practice will lead to clear business goals and outcomes. Problems can be prioritized into impact and effort required. Deciding which is more important will depend on your needs as an organization.
Drive continuous improvement: Identifying problems, building the teams, and understanding the analytics is only the beginning. It is incumbent upon HR to continuously monitor analytics and how decisions are affecting problems, errors and inefficiencies.
Reference Material
How to Successfully Implement HR Analytics and People Analytics in a Company
Last updated