Setting Up HR Analytics in the Organization  

Introduction to HR Analytics

HR Analytics refers to the analysis and collection of HR (Human Resources) data to improve the insight on what is going well and what areas can be improved for better efficiency.

Say, for instance, a software development company has a high employee turnover, which means the operational productivity is not at its peak currently. HR Analytics lets you drill down into the cause of high turnover, and effective strategies to reduce it. This will lead to a marked boost in productivity and revenue.

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Understanding the Benefits of HR Analytics

The first thought that might pop up in your head, is that the HR department might be able to gain insights by simply looking at the data they have instead of opting for a specialized form of Analytics. But as is the case with any kind of Analytics, raw data seldom can be used in that form to extract actionable insights. You need to organize, clean, transform the data before you can get down to the analysis part. You can leverage the modern tools available to save valuable time and efforts to take care of the analysis, while the experts focus on the human aspect of HR.

Here are a few benefits of using HR Analytics:

• Task Automation: Keeping in mind the volume of data that an organization has to deal with, you must automate as much as possible to reduce the burden on the workforce. HR departments have begun optimizing their workforce by leveraging modern tools to take care of oft-repeated tasks. To give you a better idea, take reporting processes for instance. Previously, it was carried out by combining text files, spreadsheets, and PPTs (PowerPoint Presentations). But with the advent of technology, it is taken care of by interactive HR reports which are sent to the desired recipients at a scheduled period. This does away with the old practices where HR professionals had to deal with exporting many files and handling manual calculations.
• Data Visualization: HR professionals focus on the human aspect of the industry, which means that pure numbers won’t suffice. With the advances in Data Visualization, HR professionals no longer need to rely on columns, rows, spreadsheets, and manual calculations. Now every variable in Human Resources Analysis can be visualized and interacted with in a simple yet elegant fashion.
• Data Collaboration: Exchange of insights and direct communication is an indispensable part of the HR department, even as the digital exchange of data continued to be cumbersome. Automated embedded reports have made sharing URLs fairly simple. Now you can also provide access to your dashboard or report to selected professionals can help answer the questions better. Searching for the right information can be optimized easily through visual examples. This also helps you find the answers you are looking for by banking on visualized data.

Understanding the Challenges of HR Analytics

Traditionally, HR hasn’t been a department that relied on a data-centric approach. But Predictive Analytics and deriving insights from multiple sources have been very beneficial for the HR department ever since its introduction. But HR Analytics still has a long way to go. Therefore, you must understand the most common challenges faced by HR Analytics to tackle them effectively:

• Privacy Concerns: There are a large number of laws in place, that regulate the collation of data on say a potential hire which renders gathering data for HR Analytics a challenge in itself. Therefore you need to ensure that your organization is looking at information in compliance to avoid law-related issues.
• Death of Data Analysis Skills: HR professionals aren’t especially skills in data analysis which brings forth difficulties in managing the HR data. People that lack the necessary technical skills and background knowledge, will face difficulty in HR Analytics, which makes proper educational training in the necessary fields the need of the hour. There are a large number of intuitive self-service BI software and educational courses to help you get acquainted with the process of HR Analytics and the tools necessary to automate the heavy work allowing them to focus on the human aspect of HR.

Conclusion

This article talked about HR Analytics and gave you a sneak peek into the benefits of incorporating Analysis into the HR department and why it will become a norm shortly. It wraps up with the challenges that HR Analytics faces along the way.