HR analytics is a phrase that just immediately conjures ideas of massive amounts of data, boring details, and a mundane process. We’re not going to argue that some of those notions may be accurate, but at the same time effective. Detailed and comprehensive HR analysis can provide you with the framework for a talent management strategy paving the way for a high performance future.

In the past HR analytics was all but impossible on a large scale, but it’s becoming increasingly easy for organizations of all sizes and types to utilize this type of big data thanks to talent management and HR software options.

If you’re looking at the difference in the talent management strategy of a high-performing organization versus a low-performing entity, it may very well be dependent on how robust their HR analytics are.

Here are a few of the ways you can utilize this data to create value within your organization:

Future Planning and Talent Mapping

Too many organizations aren’t able to achieve the level of performance they want because they’re just looking at talent management on a “take it as it comes” basis.

What sets high performers apart is a dedication to be forward-thinking with talent management, and that level of planning for the future can come directly from HR data.

For example, looking at the age of the workforce on a large scale combined with retirement data and other factors, such as skills shortages and how long it takes for employees to be fully integrated into the workforce, can let a company make plans for the future landscape of their workforce and begin planning for retirement and the loss of top talent well in advance.

Improving Managerial and Employee Performance

Analytics don’t just help the organization become a higher performer in a general sense—you should also be using this information to get leaders, managers, and employees that are more engaged and more dedicated to improving their own performance and the performance of their employees.

In order to do this, you can’t simply present raw data to managers and hope for the best—instead, develop an analytical strategy that first collects the data but then transforms it into actionable guidelines that can be used to change behavior.

In order to do this, you may require a team that can analyze data and then create a “story” from it. This tends to be the way companies take the most value from their HR data—they don’t look at the specifics of the numbers but instead turn them into something that can easily be utilized by company leaders to drive change.

Personalized Strategy

The companies with the very best analytic results are the ones that personalize the collection and analysis process to their employees, their business and their future goals and objectives.

It’s important that rather than trying to use a one-size-fits-all strategy to analyze data, you’re instead very much looking at information with a strategic and customized perspective.

Use Both the Positive and the Negative

In order to get a complete and accurate picture of your workforce and your organization, you have to look at both the positives and the negatives that are obtained in your HR data, because both are going to give you a unique glimpse into what needs to change and how it needs to change.

Use analytics to compare what high-performing employees are doing differently than low-performing employees and see where your organization needs to make changes with regard to this comparison. For example, perhaps it’s an issue of a lack of training or onboarding, or maybe there’s a flaw in your hiring process that you can only see when juxtaposing the good and the bad.

Is your organization fully harnessing HR data to drive change?

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