There is no doubting the importance of HR analytics. Surveys show that a whole 75% of companies consider that HR data are important to company development, while just 8% feel that they are good at HR analytics in practice.
What is HR analytics and HR data?
HR analytics is all about collecting and analysing employee data which can be used to improve overall employee performance at your company.
HR data can be many things. It spans from number of employees, seniority, salary, education, competencies, satisfaction, potential, risk, performance, sickness absence and employee turnover all the way through to organisation and employee development over time. And much more, too.
Using HR analytics, employers can assess and measure things such as who is most likely to leave the company and what their reasons might be for doing so. You can discover and analyse where there is a need for competence development, who has the greatest potential to advance and how employee satisfaction is developing. And these are just some examples. The possibilities are many.
Why is HR analytics and HR data important?
HR data can be used both collectively and in isolation, in the short term and in the long term, to unveil important insights about your company’s performance and development, giving you a better foundation for making the right decisions.
- From gut feeling to data-driven decisions
Using HR analytics, you can make more decisions which are based largely on concrete employee data and not just your gut feeling. This gives you a strong hand that you can use to model and push your company’s HR efforts in line with your goals and KPIs, making a strong difference to your bottom line in a way that creates value for the whole business. - Grab the attention of management
HR data concerns your company’s most important assets. None other than your employees. So when you are able to use employee data to demonstrate to management that employee turnover is on the rise in a certain department, or to show where sickness absence and employee satisfaction have been declining ever since an internal restructuring, then you will likely grab their attention and win their support to introduce measures to reverse negative trends. - Secure a competitive edge
HR analytics is also an important element when it comes to giving yourself the edge over the competition. This is because employee data can be used to spot trends, risks and opportunities, which you can leverage to improve your recruitment efforts, optimise your onboarding processes, accommodate employee needs and bolster both your employee retention and your overall employer brand.
Do you want to learn more about HR analytics and its key role within talent management? Read our blog post 'What is talent management and why is it important?' to learn more.
