Are you enabling human resources?

I work with many HR professionals and what I’ve found over the last year especially is that the HR role is being revolutionized as analytics becomes a priority in this department. People analytics is nothing new it just seems to have been a low priority for some companies but now they are beginning to see the strong correlation between the HR function and overall business efforts.

As people analytics seem to be making it into a lot of strategic plans the big questions companies keep asking is, how do we implement this type of analytics, how do we leverage the data and how do we make sure we do it well?

Now I am beginning to see the pressure put on HR departments to assist in strategic decision making around data analytics so when it comes time to hiring new talent, retaining talent, analyzing resources, improving productivity and assessing training requirements companies are able to have deeper insights.

I’ve spoken to a few clients and they’ve discussed that having analytics around the workforce will allow the HR department to streamline processes and enhance their HR approach while allowing them to analyze and plan appropriately for future growth. 

From my conversations, a few key areas that HR teams see People Analytics helping the most is in performance, hiring and employee engagement. In terms of performance, having analytics that will allow HR to perform 360 feedback surveys on existing employees, plan for gaps, know skills they need to hire for and help in future succession planning. When we talk hiring, HR teams express the importance of hiring the right fit for the company and tracking the hiring process; how long it takes to get new employees up to speed for different roles and creating efficient processes. And finally, engagement. This is a word that will always be at the top of the list for companies; the ability to keep employees engaged, enthused and enabled. 

With analytics platforms serving the HR community, businesses will begin to be able to solve new problems, close the gaps and make strides in the workforce.