Catalyst | Digital
D
Exploiting HR
analytics during
‘the big reset’
Josh Bersin
HR influencer Josh Bersin explains how to ramp up
your people-analytics capabilities to prepare for the
challenges ahead.
Through in-depth meetings with more than 150 HR and talent leaders
around the world, we’ve been studying the impact of the COVID-19
pandemic since early March, via real-time research. It’s clear that this
period is a complete rethinking of business, work, society, the economy,
what we buy, how we do business and how companies operate. I call this
“the big reset”.
We broke our participants into four workstreams, and started having
weekly conversations (on Zoom of course) about what each company was
doing, the trends they identified and solutions others can use.
Unsurprisingly, there is a lot of focus on employees, empathy and wellbeing,
more caring leadership, health and safety, and business transformation
– all happening simultaneously, which is fascinating.
We’ve also seen an acceleration of the digital transformation that’s
been going on for the past decade; things that would have taken years to
implement have now happened in days or weeks for some companies –
they have realised that they can move and reorganise much faster than
they thought. The HR profession has taken a central role in this and
stepped up to lead as this transformation is going on in the workplace.
Ongoing data
analysis will help
leaders make realtime
decisions for
unprecedented
situations
Predicting trends and needs
The use of data and analytics within HR organisations has been increasing
over recent years, thanks to easy-to-use analytics and visualisation tools,
and volumes of accessible data. The current pandemic has made the
effective use of analytics even more important.
Organisations with robust reporting and analytics functions are better
equipped to identify trends and predict workforce-related needs and
issues, even as health and business conditions change almost daily. A
range of workforce analytics can support decisions related to returning
to physical workspaces, staffing requirements and resource allocations.
And who knows where the world will be in three-to-six months? Ongoing
data analysis – complemented by market trend analysis, historical data
and other information – will help leaders make real-time decisions for
unprecedented situations.
HR and talent leaders
are now the heroes of the
C-suite, taking on public
health challenges,
psychological and safety
issues, and unprecedented
workforce challenges
I see great variances in analytics maturity among the organisations with
which I work. Some have full-time analytics teams; others are just now
exploring analytics tools. Here are some steps I advise organisations to
take in order to move up the maturity scale:
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Practise proper data hygiene. It may sound ironic in the midst of
a pandemic, but clean, consistent data allows your organisation to
conduct reliable comparisons, compelling analyses and meaningful
recommendations.
Align efforts around business problems. Start your analytics
journey with the most immediately pressing issues that you are able
to address – such as low retention or long time to hire.
Define standardised metrics. Establish the critical metrics
important to your business. Make sure definitions are consistent.
Identify unique metrics for specific business units and/or
regions. There can be a wide variance in performance as well as
the availability of data across regions or business units.
Invest in a comprehensive analytics tool. Many HR and talentacquisition
systems have limited analytics functionality. Look for
tools that integrate data from multiple systems, enable customisable
dashboards, and create compelling visualisations.
Offer role-based dashboards/reports. Not everyone in your
organisation needs to see the same data. Engage your analytics team
to deliver the right information, in the right way, to the right people.
Provide visualisations. Pictures can make a story more compelling
than straight numbers. Heat maps, bubble charts, moving graphics
and infographics bring conversations about data to life.
Cultivate analytics skills within your team. As your organisation
becomes more accustomed to relying on data, more questions will
arise that deserve addressing and thus require more work. Every HR
and talent professional needs to become adept at working with data.
In many ways, HR and talent leaders are now the heroes of the C-suite,
taking on public health challenges, psychological and safety issues, and
unprecedented workforce challenges. Having the right analytics tools
and skills to deal with these issues – as well as the unknown ahead – is
key to cementing that status while significantly contributing to employee
safety and business success.
Josh Bersin is an internationally recognised analyst, educator,
and thought leader in the global talent market, and is a frequentlyquoted
commentator on the world of work, HR and leadership
practices. Learn more about talent practices for the new economy
by joining the Josh Bersin Academy.