The Benefits of People Analytics
People spend the majority of their time, and life, working. People Analytics provides the opportunity to make work better. Laszlo Bock, former SVP of People Operations at Google, makes this point time and again in his book Work Rules. It is estimated that in the average lifetime, each person will spend 90,000 hours at work. Those of us serving and working in HR capacities have the awesome responsibility of making the most of our ‘human resources’ – people. Doing this well serves the individual and the organization. These are not, and do not need to be, mutually exclusive.
How HR Can Use Data
Data has always been used in HR to make decisions. Has your organization hired someone without interviewing them? What about reviewing their resume, references, and background checks? Not likely.
Using data to inform and guide decisions is the purpose of People Analytics. HR professionals are using information more than they give themselves credit for, more than they are comfortable with. Traditionally, HR prefers intuition to evidence.
CEOs no longer want an HR department sitting around waiting to enforce policy. As business becomes evermore competitive, HR must contribute meaningfully to the bottom line. To do so, it has to bring data to it’s decision-marking.
Can your organization ask and answer the following:
- How effective was the last training program?
- Which employees deliver the greatest revenue?
- Who is going to leave your company next?
- Who are the important connections in your organization?
You may have heard that humans only use 10% of their brains (spoiler-alert: not likely true), but think about your HR data – how much of this information is being utilized?
The Growth of People Analytics
What if…
-
- you could know the Top Talent associates in your organization who are most likely to leave in the next 12 months?
- you could boost productivity of your entire workforce, increase engagement, lower healthcare costs, improve the ability of managers to lead effectively…
Google Trends data for “People Analytics” and “HR Analytics”
Until now, it has been fine to let the Google’s of the world run their advanced analytic functions with massive budgets and multiple PhD’s. You may have a year or two to continue to bury your head in the sand and hope this “fad” passes. Or, you could not do that.
People Are Expensive
“Our people are our most valuable asset.” – every leader ever.
Human Resources is about the effective deployment of resources. It only makes sense to use data to help determine the optimal ways to use an organization’s resources.
Employee Turnover
The cost of turnover is unbelievable. Large organizations lose millions and millions of dollars annually as a direct result employee turnover.
The numbers speak for themselves. I’ve created a calculator you can use to see the bottom-line you can make from your seat in HR.
Imagine taking that number to your manager and a plan for how to reduce that expense?
For more advanced and granular control, use our Advanced Turnover Cost Calculator. Both are based on the calculation set forth by SHRM.
Moneyball for Human Resources
The C-Suite is most interested in activities and investments that drive the bottom-line. The promise of People Analytics is what CEOs and CFOs have been hoping HR can deliver for their organizations. HR can elevate above compliance and policy management.
People Analytics is not a panacea. It is data-driven decision making. Leaders of every business make informed decisions. HR can now make better-informed decisions and drive bottom-line revenue.
Photo by Clark Tibbs on Unsplash
