People analytics, data and metrics are top of mind for savvy organization leaders who understand that they must be able to harness the power of their human capital if they want to stay competitive in today’s global economy. In fact, 97% of respondents to the 2020 Deloitte Global Human Capital Trends survey said that they need additional information on some aspect of their workforce.
The right data can be used to form insights about your workforce that that can improve decisions, make employees happier, optimize processes, and add value to the organization as a whole – not just in the realm of HR.
Here we consider five of the benefits that can be realized through the smart use of data in human resources.
Benefit # 1: Hiring processes optimized & streamlined
In today’s competitive job market, finding the right candidates for the right roles can be a grueling, but necessary, practice. Data has many uses in the hiring process. It can help you find the right people for your business and make better decisions about who to hire. Data can help streamline this process and make it easier for HR teams to find high-quality candidates in a shorter period of time.
Use of the right data can also help you to understand the demographics of your organization, and whether or not your hiring practices are in line, or some changes need to be made. Data helps employers improve diversity and inclusion by allowing them to see patterns or biases in their existing processes or figure out what is working well in one area while not as much in another area (say, if there are more men than women applying for a role). This helps companies make changes so they can achieve their goals as an organization while also maintaining an inclusive environment that encourages diversity within their workforce – something everyone benefits from!
Benefit # 2: Increase employee engagement levels
This is a big one. Data can help you understand what drives employee engagement, employee satisfaction, employee retention and performance. This means that by using data to understand what drives your employees’ overall happiness at work you get more bang for your buck when it comes to increasing engagement levels.
There’s no doubt that employee engagement can have a significant impact on your business, from improving staff morale and retention to helping attract new talent. However, getting engaged employees doesn’t happen overnight and as an employer you need to be strategic about how you manage this process.
By using data to identify employees who may be losing motivation, or facing performance issues, organizations can intervene before it’s too late. Data can also be used to identify employees at risk of leaving the organization.
Employee engagement is essential for business success and profitability in today’s competitive marketplace. While managers have always had some idea about which employees are engaged and which are not, data from a variety of sources (including surveys) allows us to quantify and analyze this information in new ways that were simply not possible before. For example, we can now determine how many employees are likely to stay at each level within an organizational hierarchy over time so that promotions are targeted appropriately based on those who show promise for advancement into leadership roles down the road. This kind of insight has helped us retain valuable talent while identifying potential leaders early on—which makes everyone more productive!
Benefit # 3: Enable decisions that are more informed
Informed decision-making is the foundation of modern HR. Data helps you make more informed decisions, which means that you can be confident you’re supporting your employees with the right tools and resources.
It’s important to note that while data is essential for making good individual decisions, it also provides the basis for company-wide initiatives: if you have a clear understanding of how each department is performing on certain metrics (such as employee satisfaction), it can help you identify where improvements need to be made and what resources are needed to achieve those goals.
Good data can enable decisions that are more informed, which results in better business outcomes. The data is a great way to see how your organization is performing. You can look at things like turnover and salary trends to understand why they’re happening and then make adjustments accordingly.
Benefit # 4: Link employee data to operational metrics
Combining people analytics and operational performance data makes it possible for companies to correlate the information they have in order to identify where improved outcomes can be achieved. For example: if you know that employees in certain roles are leaving before they reach retirement age on average (and those who stay are more likely than others) then maybe there’s something about those particular roles – perhaps related specifically toward work/life balance – which could be tweaked so as not only retain talent but also attract better talent from outside sources too!
By linking this data with your business goals, you can see which individual or team members need support and develop an action plan around how best to get them on board in the long term.
Benefit # 5: Helping build equitable compensation and benefits packages
Compensation data analysis can help you determine whether any pay differences exist between employees or groups of employees who perform similar work that have different demographic characteristics (such as gender) as well as examine potential pay disparities between external labor markets and internal pay practices. This allows you to know if you need to make adjustments to ensure equal pay for equal work.
It can also help you determine which benefits are most valued by your employees. Using data to determine which benefits are most valued by your employees is one of the most impactful ways to make sure you’re offering them the right ones.
Compensation and benefits are increasingly important to employees, who want to know that they’re being fairly compensated for the work they do. As a business leader, you need to understand what your employees value in order to build equitable compensation and benefits packages.
Data can be used to build a compensation and benefits package that is more closely aligned with the organization’s business strategy. For example, if you want to focus on innovation within your company but have been providing a high level of job security in lieu of pay raises, data from employee surveys can help inform this decision by showing whether employees are actually feeling secure or not.
Conclusion
Data can open many doorways, so it’s important to ensure you’re utilizing yours correctly.
If you’re looking for some more insight into your job evaluation data, we encourage you to check out our new job evaluation data management tool, Job Pilot. It pairs with SAP Employee Central to help you take your data to new heights. Check out our webinar previously hosted on July 26, 2022 at 1:00 pm ET to see how this tool can help you make the most of your data.
