People analytics is likely one of the top tools that businesses must implement in their human resource departments and teams to give them a competitive edge in recruiting and retaining the best talent. Deloitte research notes that the power of people analytics is changing the way that businesses understand and support their workforce.
People analytics make it possible to “analyze data regarding recruitment, performance, employee mobility, and other factors. Executives now have access to a seemingly endless combination of metrics to help them understand, at a far deeper level, what drives results. Moving beyond the analysis of employee engagement and retention, analytics and AI have come together, giving companies a much more detailed view of management and operational issues to improve operational performance.” With the potential to create that much of an impact, businesses can’t afford to miss out on utilizing people analytics in their organizations.
How are HR professionals using people analytics?
Here are some of the ways that HR departments can use people analytics for the betterment of the whole business.
Accurate measuring
Data continues to grow in importance to almost every sector of a business organization, in just about every industry. HR analytics give businesses the power to use data and actually measure business areas, including employee engagement, employee diversity, employee performance, and ROI. Only by having these data metrics – and being able to accurately understand and apply them through analytics – can businesses make necessary changes.
Hiring and recruiting
Traditionally, HR department recruiters were built on people skills and gut feelings. This was often enough to lead a business to find the right candidate but often left them with a mismatch. Recruiting can be costly and time-consuming, and so the focus on using people analytics to analyze the potential of employee talent can help save a business the time and money associated with the initial search and help avoid any costly hiring mistakes. People analytics help HR professionals better understand how a candidate’s experience, education, and other skills and training can be an asset to that company or to a specific position. By highlighting the most relevant data, recruiters are able to make better hiring decisions. Some people analytics programs are even able to assess the potential of current employees based on performance records, resume, and other data to help businesses fill existing positions internally.
Better workforce planning
One way that businesses are harnessing the predictive power of people analytics is by helping businesses more clearly understand their staffing needs. Rather than just guess at how many people they’ll need to get a project done on time, people analytics can help analyze labor data and enable businesses to make smarter staffing decisions and hire on temporary or permanent employees to support business objectives. Businesses no longer have to estimate how many people to schedule for a busy season or over or under-hire during a deadline – people analytics can help predict workforce planning needs to be based on business data and past patterns.
Retention
Similarly, by analyzing patterns and data over set periods of time, people analytics can be useful in helping businesses understand their turnover and increase retention. Hiring is an expensive endeavor and businesses who retain their existing staff are generally more stable than those that have a lot of turnovers and constantly need to hire, onboard, and train new employees. People analytics can help you discover which teams are losing employees, understand if people left during certain project kickoffs, or identify other potential patterns that an organization can address.
People are the foundation of any organization. Having the right team – whether it’s 10 or 10,000 – is the most important part of maintaining a successful business. People analytics are helping more businesses find the right people and nurture them on their employment journey so that each employee can make the most impact possible.
