The obvious questions are, “What metrics should I be tracking?” and “Which KPI’s will provide me and my organization with the greatest value?”
When getting started with workforce analytics, HR professionals must be clear on what the top driving initiatives are from a corporate perspective—what are the overall business objectives?
HR must identify and measure those workforce metrics that are most impactful to your organization. As your organization matures and evolves, metrics too will evolve, adapt and change but you need to identify a baseline of metrics as they relate to your initial workforce strategies and requirements.
HBR’s “Competing on Talent Analytics” article shows that high-performance companies track a wide range of metrics from basic human capital facts (headcount, cost-per-hire, etc.) to more sophisticated performance data (how workers are impacting actual business results). Global food-service giant, Sysco, for example, began its workforce analysis with three gross measures for each operating unit: work climate/employee satisfaction, productivity and retention. The article’s authors note that Sysco “has drilled deeper to understand, measure, and manage seven other dimensions of the work environment, including frontline supervisor effectiveness, diversity, and quality of life.”
Whether your organization is just starting out with workforce analytics or using some form of workforce analytics but looking to expand the maturity of your metrics, it is strongly recommended that you focus on three fundamental HR areas—Turnover, Recruiting and Employee Performance—before moving onto more advanced workforce metrics.
1. Turnover—Identify who is leaving the organization voluntarily and why. Is it related to onboarding, training or management issues? Do particular functions or locations account for a significant portion of your overall turnover rate? Use your findings to address performance or training gaps and improve your investment in human capital.
2. Recruiting—Identify the top talent common characteristic traits for each position in your organization—especially those that drive business performance—and map them to your internal and external recruiting strategies. Use the data to determine the types of skills and abilities that you need to actively recruit for both immediate and long-term success.
3. Performance—Identify who are the underperformers and why. Understand when and where productivity fluctuates and why. Align compensation and incentive programs with performance. Use this information to improve performance by deploying better management, training, incentives, etc.
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The Big Shift to Strategic HR. How HR professionals can use workforce analytics to play a more pivotal role in their organizations help direct senior management and hiring managers in “connecting the dots” between their company’s overall performance and their investment in their workforce.
Where to Begin: The Key Three. Which metrics should organizations be tracking to provide them and their organization with the greatest value.
Workforce Analytics — Tools and Technologies. By implementing a complete, end-to-end workforce analytics solution, organizations can get an accurate birds-eye view of their workforce and use the data to guide them in fact-based human capital decisions and strategies.
4 Key Recommendations in Selecting a Workforce Analytics Solution.
