HR data has finally moved out of annual corporate presentations and is now being used to improve employee performance, retain top performers, and promote diversity. With the technology now present to compress tons of HR data and the rise in the number of data analysts, all you need is a long-term strategy that focuses on two simple points – a) which data sets do you want to analyze, and b) how are you going to use these insights in real-time environment. Let’s look at the different ways in which HR professionals can collect insightful data:

• Employee satisfaction surveys
• Demographic data
• Absenteeism data
• Employee performance metrics
• Recruitment data
• Employee promotion history
• Retention data
• One-on-One meetings

Once you have the data, the next step is to prepare an action plan on how exactly you are going to use this data, which points you should focus on first, and how are you going to analyze the results. In this article, we’ll explain how firms can use this data to become more productive, happy, and diverse.

1) Retain Top Performers

Losing even one of your top performers can have an adverse impact on overall productivity. Using HR Analytics firms can analyze the following data sets to discover insights that may be helpful to retain top performers.

• Attrition in every department
• Results of employee satisfaction surveys
• On-boarding experience
• Common traits between experienced performers (survey result)
• Performance issues of various employees
• Employee engagement rates when it comes to email campaigns, feedback, participating in events, etc.

This data can be used to analyze if there is any particular department or job role that is facing severe attrition, which factors employees value the most, are there any issues with a specific manager, what problems employees are facing in certain projects, etc. Based on these insights firms can organize relevant training programs, improve their existing processes, and create a long-term action plan.

2) Promote Diversity & Inclusion

Any firm that cares about diversity will definitely find HR Analytics useful. There is not one but many ways in which you can use past data to optimize and improve your diversity recruitment process.

• Study historical data to identify patterns of bias-hiring (gender, location, social background, etc.)
• Create diversity-friendly job advertisements to attract more diverse candidates
• Create better blind-hiring processes that only take skills and experience into account
• Share job openings with organizations that offer more diverse resumes

3) Predict Future Needs

Although to predict future needs, organizations must have loads of data and some great data science talent, once you have established the right team this feature can help you optimize your organization’s performance to a great extent. Some of the ways in which HR analytics can help you predict future needs are:

• Based on current and past projects’ performance, predict which skills are going to be in high demand
• By studying the most successful candidates for your firm, you can identify some common traits like experience, skills, previous organization, etc. that can help you take better decisions
• Based on survey results, one-on-one feedbacks, and engagement scores, you can have a better idea about which employees are most likely to leave so that you can prepare an action plan to retain the same

4) Streamline Recruitment Process

Apart from improving retention and promoting diversity, HR Analytics can also be used to streamline the recruitment process. By studying which recruitment campaigns were effective, which sourcing channels produced quality talent, and which onboarding techniques worked, organizations can not only identify loopholes in their recruitment process but also take corrective action.

Having wealth of HR data can help your organization prepare better for the future and also optimize the current standing. This data, if utilized properly and in the most diverse-friendly way, can provide you with sufficient evidence to make the necessary changes that your organization demands.