Make Your HR Data Actionable Now!

Transcription

1 A PeopleFluent White Paper Make Your HR Data Actionable Now! Unlock the Value Trapped in Your Company s Data by Using Role-Based Analytics When it comes to extracting the real value locked inside their HR data, most companies haven t yet figured out how to begin. This was the general consensus among a group of HR experts who assessed the state of HR analytics. As Josh Bersin, Founder and Principal of Bersin by Deloitte, noted, Only 14 percent of the companies we studied are even

2 starting to analyze people-related data in a statistical way and correlate it to business outcomes. The rest are still dealing with reporting, data cleaning and infrastructure challenges. In other words, the vast majority of us are miles away from the promised land of Big Data (high-volume, high-velocity and high-variety information assets that, according to Gartner, demand cost-effective, innovative forms of information processing for enhanced insight and decision making). We re still working on leveraging our small data (the basic people data we re already gathering). Yet, there is no denying that the era of Big Data is on the way. In 2013, Gartner reported that 64% of businesses are planning to or have already invested in Big Data. And market research firm, ABI Research, is forecasting that global spending on Big Data will reach $114 billion in Given these reports and many others like them, HR professionals would be wise to embrace data and analytics more proactively and dynamically today, as a way to prepare themselves and their organizations for the coming era of true Big Data. To do so, they must: 1) jumpstart the enterprise s data mining efforts now; and 2) act as a role model to other functions, showing them how to unlock the value of their own data. Only 14 percent of the companies we studied are even starting to analyze people-related data in a statistical way and correlate it to business outcomes. Josh Bersin, Founder and Principal, Bersin by Deloitte To their credit, many HR departments have made significant progress over the past several years in using data to drive their business decisions. But now it s time to double down on that progress, especially since we know that more profound and widespread usage of data is on the horizon. One excellent way to accomplish this is to mine our people data using a rolebased approach. Make Your HR Data Actionable Now! 2

3 Unlocking Data s Trapped Value Using a role-based approach, key people within the HR function (and eventually outside the function) are tasked with analyzing the enterprise s people data in relation to their own specific roles and responsibilities. A compensation manager, for example, is charged with utilizing corporate and individual performance data to make sure employees are properly rewarded. Similarly, a recruiter is made responsible for utilizing both internal and external candidate information to make hiring decisions quickly and effectively. While you might assume this is already how most organizations operate, the reality is that many don t actually hold their leaders accountable for using data and analytics to do their work and manage their teams. Others allow the bare minimum of analytical research to be done. Data initiatives at these organizations are more often focused on big-picture trends such as business development, marketplace changes, competitive positioning and expense analysis. For many HR professionals, this role-based approach doesn t require them to do anything new or foreign. They simply need to look at their responsibilities in a new, role-based, data-centric way that helps to excavate value that has been trapped or overlooked in the company s data. Here we ve outlined six roles that can help jumpstart your organization s data mining efforts by incorporating HR data analysis into their regular responsibilities: Compensation Manager One of the most important challenges compensation managers must address is to reward employees fairly, accurately and visibly. To this end, actionable data can provide a tremendous benefit by providing employees full visibility into the specifics of how they are being compensated. This includes base salary information, bonus potential, corporate performance, how performance is calculated into compensation, and other factors. The result is an employee and manager who are working off the same set of clear expectations, which helps increase overall morale. Chief Learning Officer The Chief Learning Officer (CLO) and her/his team works closely with the HR management to ensure that employees have the knowledge they need to fulfill performance goals and company directives. To get the job done, the CLO must embrace corporate and individual data to ensure employees are trained at the right intervals, with the right tools and course, and by the right people. Additionally, the CLO must ensure that courses are available, easily embraced by employees, and match any necessary compliance challenges that the job may require. Make Your HR Data Actionable Now! 3

4 Recruitment Manager The Recruitment Manager is tasked with making sure open positions are filled quickly, effectively, and with the most qualified people available. To do this, the Recruitment Manager must analyze not only candidate experience and qualification but also the process of sourcing potential candidates and the evaluation process. Actionable data plays a big role in all of these processes as it helps to identify highly optimal internal and external candidates, determines the best sources of candidates, helps to walk him or her through the recruitment process, and analyze the experience in the process. The Recruitment Manager must be able to analyze all of these factors in a real-time manner, determining how to quickly move people through the multiple steps of the hiring process. Chief Procurement Officer Very often, the Chief Procurement Officer is responsible (in whole or in part) for managing contingent labor. Thus, insightful analytics help answer question such as: Have we had enough contingent workers to respond quickly to the company s needs? Have our contingent employees felt fully engaged and treated well? Have my staffing and sourcing resources effectively met our needs? Line of Business Manager In a sense, the Line-of-Business Manager s main challenges mirror those of the HR Manager monitoring and quantifying employee performance. One of the key questions this individual can ask is whether he/she is tracking all of the data needed to effectively measure and rate employee performance against company goals. In many ways, the Line-of-Business Manager is one of the cornerstones of the entire analytics process. He/she must use the company s systems and tools to track employee performance against goals and targets (and to make sure employees know and understand these goals and targets). Vice President of HR/Head of Talent Management Among the most important responsibilities these roles assume is the oversight and execution of the entire, inclusive corporate HR strategy. Given all of the interdependencies that exist within the various roles of HR management, this is not so easy. Therefore, the use of analytical insights greatly helps to normalize information from various departments such as compensation, recruitment, learning, and others. This is the core of the HR process. In addition, the VP of HR and the head of Talent Management can analyze company data for answers to such fundamental questions as: Is each discipline within HR hitting its individual targets and goals? Is each HR discipline contributing to the success of its sister disciplines? Is each HR discipline measurably contributing to the overall success of the company? Make Your HR Data Actionable Now! 4

5 As you can see, the role-based approach we ve outlined isn t about creating a dramatic paradigm shift in the way organizations execute their HR strategy. It s simply a way to ensure that key individuals leverage the enterprise s HR data to extract actionable insights on a consistent, ongoing basis as part of their basic job responsibilities. In fact, this role-based approach will serve as a solid foundation for moving onto the next phase of our progress the widespread use of predictive analytics. Getting More Predictive and Proactive While the role-based data analysis outlined above focuses principally on past performance (how have I and/or my team performed), predictive analytics uses historical data to make predictions about the future (what our talent needs will be, who our flight risks are, consequences of changes in compensation plans, etc.). In predictive analytics you begin with a business problem (How can I tell which employees are likely to leave the company in the next six months?) and then gather historical data on existing variables (For the last 50 employees who left, what are their lengths of employment, performance review scores, changes in roles and responsibilities, changes in reporting structure, and the like?). Then you apply what you ve learned to your talent management activities so you can positively influence future outcomes. This is a crucial step toward using the enterprise s data proactively and toward becoming the strategic resource that our senior leaders want HR to be. Clearly, HR has an opportunity to become more data-driven and we don t have to wait for the era of Big Data to arrive. We can continue the progress we ve already made by bringing a role-based approach to our own data mining efforts. This means we can unlock more of our data s value today not at some vague future date. By doing so, we ll not only prove our strategic mettle but we ll also be acting as a role model to other functions, showing them how to benefit from our experience. Make Your HR Data Actionable Now! 5

6 So What About Big Data? Experts continue to emphasize the importance of Big Data to the future effectiveness of human capital management. Interestingly, when asked about the place of Big Data in the HR landscape, industry expert William Tincup, SPHR and CEO of Tincup & Co., said that during the next three to five years, most (of) what we ll learn is about turning Big Data into something small and actionable. Although he was speaking about Big Data, this insight can and should be applied to all of our data: its real and immediate value lies in the small and actionable nuggets we can mine from it. Approaching data through the narrowed prism of one s own job responsibilities enables HR leaders to chisel out those small and actionable nuggets. And it enables them to make tangible progress toward connecting the enterprise s people data to real business outcomes. The role based approach establishes a corporate paradigm to ensure your company will be ready when Big Data infrastructure is available. For more information on PeopleFluent Talent Management Solutions visit us at or call us directly at Make Your HR Data Actionable Now! 6

7 About PeopleFluent TM PeopleFluent, the leading total workforce HCM technology company, redefines Talent Management with an innovative Talent Engagement Cloud that is built around people and not HR processes. By deeply integrating pervasive video, strategic analytics and collaborative social technologies into its complete suite of Talent Management applications, PeopleFluent redefines employee engagement to address productivity loss and diminished financial results due to an increasingly disengaged workforce. With PeopleFluent, companies can change at the speed of business without costly IT interventions through intuitive, highly configurable software that is built upon the right data. Spanning across an organization s entire global workforce with one talent cloud, PeopleFluent equips leaders with the meaningful talent data and strategic analytics necessary to make better business decisions. PeopleFluent has worked with over 5,100 organizations in 214 countries and territories to engage employees to drive better business results. Today, 80% of the Fortune 100 relies on PeopleFluent as part of their talent management delivery strategy, helping them successfully achieve their talent aspirations. Waltham, Massachusetts 300 Fifth Avenue Waltham, MA USA Tel: Raleigh, North Carolina 434 Fayetteville Street, 9th Floor Raleigh, NC USA Toll-Free: (877) Tel: London, United Kingdom 15 Fetter Lane London EC4A 1BW United Kingdom Tel: +44 (0) Copyright 2014, PeopleFluent. All rights reserved. This document contains registered trademarks and trademarks of PeopleFluent Holdings Corp. or one of its subsidiaries. All other brand and product names are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective holders.