How to Choose the Best People Analytics Tools

By Emily Pribanic - Published on April 27, 2018
How to Choose the Best People Analytics Tools

Having an excellent people analytics tool is essential for your business.

Without a proper people analytics tool, your business probably isn’t operating as smoothly as it could be. Implement an HR analytics tool today to make your business better.

Having adequate people analytics tools are essential to ensure that your business is running smoothly. People analytics tools, also known as HR or talent analytics, are analytics that helps managers and executives make decisions about their employees or workforce. Therefore, having the best analytics tools available to you is essential to ensure that business operations are running as smooth as possible.

Steps to Choose the Best People Analytics Tools

Before you start to research different people analytics tools to implement into your business, make sure that you’re keeping your top priorities these tools should accomplish in mind. These priorities include data management, systems reporting and dashboarding, pilot analyses, capability building and privacy.

Data management is an essential practice of gathering data and ensuring that data is accurate, complete, consistent and uniform. It’s also important to make sure that your data definitions are aligned with every department in your company to ensure that everyone is on the same page. It is also a good idea, with data management, to facilitate your HR department by setting goals and KPIs they can measure, reliant on fact-based outcomes like in the recruitment process.

An effective HR dashboard will be able to show how these KPIs relate to the business. If your business doesn’t already have an HR dashboard you can look outside your company to implement one, but it could be costly. First, try asking your IT department if they can help you build the connection you need between your HR system and the dashboard tools. Once you’ve created this connection, allow your HR department head to explore the dashboard and start with basic features like training and talent acquisition.

When you begin to conduct your pilot analysis, you’ll need different skills from different departments to conduct an optimal analysis. You’ll need an HR analytics manager, a data scientist, an IT expert, a subject matter expert and a business expert. If you don’t have all these necessary skills within your own organization, you can always search outside your business but remember, many people at your company could be wearing multiple hats.

Your HR business partners will be helped a great deal with your people analytics tools so make sure you get them together to go over your new HR analytics tools. First, start with an in-depth introduction to HR analytics, then go over the different definitions and applications included in your new tools. You’ll then want to provide them with examples of HR analytics and explain the process of HR analytics and their role with these tools. Then, as a team, brainstorm and develop proof of concepts based on issues from the business.

Of course, privacy is a major issue today, so this will be one of your most important priorities when choosing your people analytics tools. Get with your privacy department and privacy officer so they can inform you of the important privacy targets they’re most concerned with. Also, inform them when you start your analysis and show them any variables you would like to analyze to ensure that they’re okay with you proceeding. Make sure you discuss your results with your privacy department, so they can give you a minimum number of people to ensure anonymity.

Top HR Analytics Tools on the Market

Now that you’ve completed all the necessary steps to choose the best HR analytics tools for your company, it’s now time to make your decision about which tool is best for you. Some of the top tools available on the market include:

  • RStudio
  • Python
  • Excel
  • Power BI
  • SPSS
  • Tableau

There are many other people analytics tools on the market to choose from, but make sure you do ample research on any tool you’re debating on implementing into your business. If your company isn’t using any sort of people analytics tools yet, it is time to start.

Emily Pribanic | Emily is a graduate of the University of North Texas. She has her B.A. in Advertising with a concentration in Copywriting. Emily has been writing since she was young and has a creative imagination. She lives in Dallas, Texas with her family and two cats.

Emily Pribanic | Emily is a graduate of the University of North Texas. She has her B.A. in Advertising with a concentration in Copywriting. Emily has been writing s...

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