What is people analytics?
People analytics is a data-driven way of studying people processes, functions, challenges and opportunities at work as a way of achieving business success that lasts. People analytics is also known as HR analytics or HR metrics and is a way of looking at the statistics in order to make better decisions about your business.
People analytics or HR analytics were developed originally to help large corporations become even better. Over the years though, there have been changes in the way people analytics are designed so that they can also help mid-size companies improve. Using HR analytics or HR metrics, your company can make data-informed decisions to improve how you do business.
By using people analytics, you can make better decisions about hiring, performance management and how to get better employee retention rates. By studying people analytics within an organization, you can learn to anticipate what will be important to your employees so that you can get the best performance out of them and have a good understanding of areas that need to be improved.
Why people analytics is important
There are numerous ways in which people analytics or HR metrics can help improve your business. Here are a few examples of ways using people analytics can improve your business.
Reduce Employee Turnover
The data you collect from people analytics can help you identify why people are leaving your organization and who might be at risk of leaving. By studying the data of people who have left in the past, you will be able to see trends in why people leave and possibly even be able to pinpoint the type of employee who is likely to leave now. By using this information, you can take steps to correct this problem and lower turnover numbers.
Promote Diversity and Inclusion
Promoting diversity and inclusion is important for keeping employee morale high and increasing innovation. By using people analytics, you can check where your company might have a bias that has gone unchecked and improvements can be made. One area that could be good to look at is your recruitment and hiring practices. If you find that the recruitment and hiring practices of your company are not allowing for diversity, it could be time to change some of your procedures around this process.
Improving Your Onboarding Process
If your onboarding process is lacking, it can be hard for new employees to find success within your company. For example, if training is scattered and done as needed, it can be difficult for a new employee to feel comfortable within the position which might lead them to find work elsewhere. By using people analytics you can pinpoint where your onboarding process might be lacking and then make the appropriate improvements.
Create Learning and Development Opportunities
Having learning and development opportunities within your business is key to improving relations with your employees. People want to have jobs where they can grow and become better at what they do. By looking at HR analytics, you will be able to see ways in which a learning a development program might help your employees achieve greater goals. The data can show you who might become a good leader or which skills could be improved in your workforce and you’ll be able to create a learning and development program that is suited to your employees’ needs.
Related: 5 Steps to Creating an Effective Training and Development Program
Drive Employee Performance
Understanding how your employees become motivated can help you drive performance. Employees need to be properly motivated in order to give their best performance and if this is lacking in your company, then you might have a problem. Using HR analytics can help you pinpoint exactly why employees might be lacking in motivation which would then help in fixing the problem. For further explanation on how this can work, keep reading as we discuss this further in the next section.
Plan for the Future
It is important for companies to have a strategic plan for the future in order to see continued success. As society changes, technology improves and the economy fluctuates, businesses have to be able to adapt quickly. By using people analytics or HR analytics, companies can find out what areas they need to improve quickly in order to keep up with the changing world.
The above examples are just a few ways in which people analytics can help solve problems within your business. By using people analytics any business can benefit from its ability to make data-informed decisions that can lead to further success.
How to use people analytics efficiently
In order to use the data information from people analytics to improve your business, you have to create a system that is efficient. Here are some tips on how to do so.
Establish a Data-Driven Company Culture
In order to establish a data-driven company culture , you first have to encourage employees to prioritize data and facts when making decisions. By highlighting the importance of using factual data rather than gut instinct, it will be easier for HR to collect people analytics data on the decision-making process.
By emphasizing data-driven decision-making, it can be easy to see what has led to further success and what has not. It also inspires people to be critical thinkers, meaning that a lot of thought will start going into the different decisions that come up when working on projects or performing tasks.
Using HR analytics or HR metrics can make it easier for people to see where they have gone wrong and learn from their mistakes. If decisions are being made by people jumping to conclusions or making gut choices, then it is more difficult to point to a reason why a mistake happened. By having a data-driven company culture , you will improve performance and allow employees to learn along the way.
Identify What You Want to Achieve
Once you’ve established a data-driven company culture , you can spend some time deciding on what goals you want to achieve or improve. It is easier to see where things have gone wrong when people are using data-driven decision making, so you should have an idea of what might need improvement.
Once you know what needs improvement, set some realistic goals. If you want to use people analytics to help performance, then what will be the benchmark that you are aiming for that will show that you’ve achieved that goal? By setting clear realistic goals you will be able to strategize on the next steps after compiling the data from HR analytics.
Compile the Data
Now that you’ve figured out what your goal will be, it is time to start collecting data. If, for example, you are trying to improve performance, you can collect people analytics data from team projects where collaboration between employees is necessary.
By doing this, you can look at factors such as communication between employees, how the team makes decisions and how efficient each team member is. By using people analytics, you will be able to pinpoint areas of weakness and decide how to improve things.
Interpret the Data and Take Actionable Steps
At this point in the HR analytic process, you are able to interpret what the data is showing you about performance. By looking at the data collected when studying a particular team, you will be able to see where employee engagement might be lacking or what types of issues cause projects to slow down.
Make sure not to stop once you’ve interpreted the data. Decide on some steps that you can take action on that will help improve performance. For example, if the team you studied had a difficult time with communication, how could you help facilitate better communication between colleagues? By using people analytics data, it will be easier for you to pinpoint the issues that come up and then easier to figure out a solution.
Related: How to Create Effective Communication at the Workplace
By following the above steps, you will be able to use people analytics or HR metrics in order to improve your company and continue to grow in success.
