A company’s human resources department used to be just a repository of data of its employees; logging attendance, computing wages and benefits, administering performance appraisal and conducting trainings. But they sit on so much data and can gather so much more data that if these are used properly, analyzed and applied accordingly is a treasure trove of information that can help significantly transform an organization. We are living in a data-driven world that ignoring its application is unsound corporate practice.
That is why HR Analytics has started to become a key practice in Human Resources Management.
What is HR Analytics?
HR analytics is the systematic identification and quantification of the people drivers of business outcomes (Heuvel & Bondarouk, 2016). It’s a data-driven approach to HR, removing the guesswork out of HR management by using analytics to optimize employee experience. It helps the company measure, track, and predict drivers of key metrics that drive employee performance.
What are some types of analyses that HR Managers can derive from a scientifically sound HR Analytics system?
• Attrition Analysis – find out who among your employees are leaving, why are they leaving and what can you do to prevent them from leaving. Who are they by department, tenure, age, and gender.
• Job Performance Analysis – What differentiates the star performers from the non-performers; what factors motivates your star performers and what prevents your non-performers from maximizing their performance
And once these analyses are done, HR will now be able to come up with sound interventions and programs to address flagged-up issues be it per department or for the entire organization. They will also then be able to systematically track the progress and effectiveness of these interventions.
Imagine being able to scientifically justify your training and development budget to your Execom?