This is a preview. To continue reading, register for free access now. Register Now or Log in

People Analytics

Author: Graham Brown

Contributing Author: Sarah Thompson

Summary

  • People analytics involves collecting, analyzing and using data about an organization's employees and business performance to provide business insights, solve business problems and inform business decisions and strategy. See What Is People Analytics?
  • Engaging in people analytics can provide a firm foundation for making business decisions. This can impact positively on the organization's bottom line. See The Business Case for Using People Analytics.
  • It is important to understand how people analytics fits into the overall structure of the HR department. See Organizing People Analytics Within the HR Function.
  • To make effective use of people analytics, HR practitioners need to possess certain skills, and the organization may need to provide training to upskill them. See Upskilling the HR Team.
  • HR will need to persuade the senior management team to invest in people analytics. See Gaining Buy-In From Senior Management.
  • Standard software programs can be used to perform basic people data analysis, but more advanced statistics software is likely to be necessary for more complex analytics. See Software.
  • When deciding on the focus of a people analytics project, the HR team should identify a significant or pressing business problem in relation to which they can use data to inform action. See Identifying the Objectives of the Project.
  • After defining the objectives of the exercise, HR should develop metrics around the business issue to be addressed. See Deciding What to Measure.
  • The HR team needs to gather data to obtain the required metrics. The organization may already be collecting the relevant data or may need to establish a new data collection process. See Collecting Data.
  • Cleaning data prior to analysis is important in ensuring the accuracy of the data. See Cleaning the Data.
  • Analyzing the data involves establishing basic insights and then carrying out further analysis to identify trends and establish correlations. See Analyzing the Data.
  • HR should communicate the outcome of the analysis to senior managers and other stakeholders in the organization. Data dashboards are a useful way of presenting the analysis to senior leaders. See Communicating the Analysis.
  • The HR team should use the information from the analysis to make or recommend business decisions. See Using Data to Make Business Decisions.
  • It is important for HR to assess the success of any actions taken as a result of the data analysis. See Measuring Success.
  • Because people analytics involves processing employees' personal data, HR must take steps to protect the data's privacy. See Data Protection.