For HR, the world of work is changing at pace and the disruptive technological evolution we’re living through is presenting great opportunities and challenges for HR and people management.
We’ve already entered the early phases of the data-driven world. In fact, 90% of the world’s data has been created in the last two years, and by 2020 the same amount of data again will be created every minute.
Before data can be used though, it needs to be interpreted and understood. And with so much information available it can be overwhelming to think about how to extract the relevant insight. That’s where data analytics comes in. The rapid growth of HR technology and capability has meant that human resource professionals today can analyse data to make better HR decisions, leading directly to more productive and profitable outcomes for the organisation.
Through analytics, you can help to shape the role and future of HR, and we’re already seeing teams make data-based decisions with confidence because of this new capability. This in turn, allows HR to become the central driving force in an organisation’s development and business growth.
Quite rightly, people analytics is a key focus for many businesses over the next 12 months, but the value of human capital needs to be fully recognised by business leaders if HR is to get the investment it deserves to maximise talent. Despite a clear majority of CEOs and senior decision-makers acknowledging the importance of HR data and analytics as key areas of investment, only 30% have access to the right data¹ and few can make informed decisions on their workforce. This is where analytics can be the game-changer.
From our in-house experience at Experian, and our ongoing conversations with clients about HR analytics, we’ve highlighted some key themes and challenges for 2019:
- Executive Leadership teams are seeing the value of true end to end analytics.
- Data is becoming readily available and consumable for the HR industry.
- The competitive talent landscape needs proactive analytics in order for organisations to stay ahead of their competitors.
- There are challenges with implementing or accelerating HR analytics. This could be in relation to data, technology or trust, or more widely trust, ethics and transparency. A lack of consideration for these can lead to knock-on, negative consequences – at best with your HR outputs and the value of your analytics, at worst your employer-employee relationship and your business reputation. Read our article here on overcoming the challenges of workforce analytics, follow our latest thinking hub for up to date information, or get in touch to discuss with our HR specialists.
The role of the Chief HR Officer (CHRO)
By using analytics, HR can become less transactional and more transformational. As such, the role of the CHRO is of vital importance to today’s business world and to forming an organisation’s people strategy. The role of analytics is of course to underpin this strategy.
Using analytics to assist people in making decisions gives a robust view of your workforce, and technology allows you to do this at scale and at speed. The effective, data-aware CHRO – advising and steering in terms of what the talent strategy should be – is critical at a time when competition for talent is so fierce.
Today, people are looking to move jobs more frequently. They’re less worried about job security. The next generation’s priorities are less about benefits packages and more about day-to-day experiences. The move towards a ‘candidate’s market’ puts pressure on HR professionals and organisations to compete, leading to a sharper focus on elements such as employer brand, flexibility and work-life integration, health and well-being, diversity and inclusion, training and development and employee engagement, to name but a few.
While there are great opportunities to meet these demands effectively and in some style, you can’t do it on your own. The right combination of people and machine is essential.
Analytics can’t tell you which strategies to put in place to achieve your objectives, but they can give you a clear, informed view of your workforce. Predictive analytics can take things a step further, by providing solutions ahead of time, spotting trends and predicting risk so you can stay ahead of the game and have time to test interventions before you implement them.
At Experian our predictive workforce analytics model has helped safeguard our talent and saved us c$14m over 2 years.
This was achieved by building a data-driven analytics solution to equip global HR teams with advanced insight into employee needs and motivations. Such detail enables a more tailored approach to provide the types of benefits that people value and the insight that vastly improves retention strategies.
The Workforce Analytics solution has saved us millions, but most importantly it’s become the backbone of how we make the best decisions for our people. We’re now better able to anticipate and predict what our employees value and that’s helped us to retain talent that keeps Experian innovating. Our own success has been the catalyst to make this solution available to other businesses and I’m confident they’ll start to reap the same rewards.
Mark Wells, Group HRD
Talk to us about how Experian can help you enhance your HR analytics capability through using our predictive workforce analytics model.
Find out more here or contact us to speak to one of our HR specialists. Want to get the latest insight and invites to our HR events? Sign up here.
¹ https://business.linkedin.com/content/dam/me/business/en-us/talent-solutions/talentintelligence/workforce/pdfs/Final_EMEA_Rise-of-Analytics-Report.pdf