The Value of Data Analytics in Human Resources

For HR, the future is history

In the past, human resources managers and business owners had fewer options for gathering and applying data on worker performance. There was the traditional worker satisfaction survey that, if kept brief and anonymous, provided input. Factors such as morale, job satisfaction, and department performance could all be basically evaluated. A close look at turnover was also available and the overall performance of a team or company could be assessed.

The flaw in traditional methods of evaluation is that they usually caught a problem after it happened and left managers to react in hindsight. Today, effective human resources management is taking advantage of predictive analytics. This focus on the future gives HR a head start on problems before they take root.

Hard data is the core of predictive analytics

Workplace data analytics are becoming essential components of human resources. 2017 saw HR rapidly evolve toward incorporating digital elements, with 33% of HR staff using some form of Artificial Intelligence to reach solutions and more HR managers being tasked with “ implementing analytics and organizational network analysis.”

As valuable as analytics can be for seeing the shape of things to come, it still needs a history of hard data to make predictions. This data should cover a wide range of HR-related areas which could impact individuals, teams, or an entire business.

Employee engagement. Successful hiring and retention rates. Customer interaction and satisfaction. Basic performance benchmarks. These factors set precedents that model likely outcomes.

The impact of modeling workplace behavior

Deloitte’s research on predictive analytics trends in human resources highlights various goals modeling can achieve, such as:

•  Measuring success rates for coaching on employee engagement

•  Analyzing video interviews to assess candidate personality and honesty

•  Identifying overtime issues, travel data, absenteeism, billing hours, and other payroll leakages

Another key area involves studying turnover to identify which positions are the most at risk. That’s the kind of data which can cut down on losses in advance. Poor performance can also be a big factor that contributes to the turnover problem. To identify and mitigate it, predictive analytics compiles real-time data on every team member to assess their positive and negative potential.

Data analysis identifies other negative employee patterns; issues like consistent tardiness, not hitting assigned targets, and receiving customer complaints, to name a few. If there’s a problem member of your team, the data highlights that risk.

Just as data can identify risks, it can also highlight opportunities to correct poor performance or investigate whether it’s due to extenuating circumstances. A team member with genuine problems can be helped through a bad time and back to historical performance before their issues become the company’s.

As a positive tool, data can effectively be used to predict future employee success and more accurately identify high potentials early in their careers, properly adjust sales performance, and dramatically improve hiring results.

The path to your company’s future

Despite the focus on hard data and cold analytics, business owners and HR professionals should never underestimate the power of intuition. A gut instinct that an employee is underperforming, disengaged, or likely to leave the company should not be ignored. Predictive data analysis relying on hard data and intuition are a powerful combination. Data and the technology that allows us to leverage it are valuable tools, but ultimately, only humans have the perspective to apply them.

With so much information available, it can be a bit overwhelming to give it direction. Your business needs a strategy to take full advantage of predictive data and plot a clear course to success. At KARP HR Solutions, we focus on helping businesses devise ROI-driven human resources solutions. If you need an ally in business, call us at 954-684-3284 or contact us here for a free consultation.