We live in a world of data, but do we use data to our advantage? Do we analyse the data to get valuable insights? When we make decisions, are these decisions based on what the data is telling us?

How is it related to HR? HR Analytics, also known as People Analytics, provides valuable information for companies to understand the needs of the company and make improvements. As HR processes often involve dealing with employees, companies typically take a more qualitative approach. However, at the C-level, the top management’s main concern is generating a healthy bottom line for the company – which is inherently very data-driven.

Taking a more data-driven approach when it comes to HR-related matters would put typically qualitative data into clearer perspective. On top of that, return on investments into people and HR processes can be justified. HR often viewed as a cost centre, can now be viewed as a strategic profit centre.

Data-driven HR

HR analytics can be used in different HR areas including recruitment, training, learning, as well as rewards and recognition. Data gathering is a big part of analytics, where without the right data, analysis cannot be done. Retrospectively, having “dirty” data or not having enough data will skew the analysis.

The other aspect of data is the lag time. Some data are entered in batches or continuously with a lag time. However, the most powerful is real-time data. Having real-time data helps companies identify issues or trends as soon as it becomes apparent, therefore allowing companies to plan ahead to address the issues. However, having data, whether real-time or not, really is better than having none.

HR Exchange Network published an article, highlighting the three differences of HR analytics – Descriptive Analytics, Predictive Analytics and Prescriptive Analytics. Descriptive Analytics projects current happenings, Predictive Analytics forecast the future scenarios while Prescriptive Analytics suggests actions to address any issues.

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What can organisations do with HR Analytics?

Now that we understand how HR Analytics can be powerful for your organisation, what are some of the applications that you can get started with right away? Read on to learn how you can use analytics for your HR processes.

1. Finding the perfect candidate with HR Analytics

A company’s most important asset is its employees. However, we all know how difficult it is to hire the right candidates for the job. Not only that, but companies sometimes face “overload” situations where the current group of employees cannot handle the increasing amount of work.

How do you optimise this decision-making then? How do you know whether the candidate fits the bill? How do you know when is the right time to hire or determine the hiring timelines to keep up with the work capacity over time? That’s where HR Analytics comes in.

Traditionally, hiring managers decides the number of positions to fill, but are they making data-driven decisions? Often time, companies could also face redundancy due to overhiring or during non-peak periods as well as economic downturns. Besides that, companies that adopt automation may result in better efficiency but employees end up being redundant.

Keeping a healthy talent pipeline is also equally vital. Whenever a position becomes vacant, HR can tap into the pre-vetted pipeline to find a replacement right away rather than starting the recruitment process from scratch. Hiring never truly stops. In this case, it’s utilising analytics to know who & when to hire.

2. Wellness at work

Employee wellness may seem like something qualitative, but it’s been proven that employee wellness is correlated to the performance of employees at work. Wellness can be defined as physical, mental or emotional wellness.

Besides employee performance, analytics can be used to determine whether the existing employee medical & wellness benefits are effective in attracting or retaining talent. Do you know whether the benefits offered are well-received? Thinking of offering gym benefits? How’s the take-up rate?

To put things into perspective, here’s a case study was done by HealthMetrics for one of its clients:

Case Study: Using Data Analytics For Healthcare Benefits

Prior to using HealthMetrics, it’s client provides hospitalisation & outpatient insurances to 800 employees & 900 dependents. The company has a young workforce of between 25 to 38 years old. The client’s goal was to provide customised health plans but was worried about the administrative work involved in a small HR team of 3. Besides that, they did not have concrete data to back up their hypothesis of what their employees actually need.

So what HealthMetrics did was expanded the company’s healthcare reach with their healthcare partners network consisting of 2500+ medical, dental & optical healthcare providers. The client also allowed gym benefit which was also managed through our platform.

The onboarding was as simple as ABC. HealthMetrics connected to the company’s HR Information System (HRIS) which pulled the employees’ information to the HealthMetrics system to quickly onboard the employees. Everything is real-time, so as soon as the employee gets entered into the system, the employee could start using the benefits. No more waiting for medical cards, just the employees’ Identity Card (IC) or Passport is needed when visiting the healthcare providers.

At the end of the case study, the results were outstandingly insightful. The company hypothesised that since it’s a relatively young workforce, gym benefits would see the highest take-up rate. It was actually the lowest. Meanwhile, the company saw a take-up rate of 79% on the new dental & vision benefits.

Through data analytics, the company would be able to craft more effective & relevant benefit programs to cater to what the employees really want or need. Through HealthMetrics, they not only helped the client expand their benefits but also helped them achieve savings from hefty insurance premiums on outpatient medical care.

With the data collected, companies also get a good overview of the employees’ health-seeking behaviour. HealthMetrics provides real-time information of digital MCs issued as well as PDPA-compliant overview of the medical conditions the employees are facing. From this information, companies can then determine the type of wellness programs that would genuinely benefit the employees.

3. Keeping tabs on performance

It is the time of the month for the key performance index (KPI) review, and most employers could only gauge the performance of his or her subordinates through daily supervision and based on the targets achieved. However, there are times where line managers may be clouded by personal prejudice, which may lead to employees not being properly acknowledged for their performance.

HR analytics, on the other hand, creates accurate statistics without prejudice, in which the employees are assessed objectively. Recommendations on working styles, discipline and productivity can also be highlighted to employees for future improvements. With digital systems & automatically generated reports, employers can also evaluate employees’ performance more frequently for continuous improvement.

Implementation of HR analytics

There are many other applications when it comes to HR Analytics. HR Technologists highlighted in an article that it is up to the company to decide what type of analytics would benefit the company. Perhaps companies can start with the low hanging fruits first. What are the immediate problems the company is facing? Can you use analytics to make HR functions more efficient & effective? What data do you already have? Perhaps you can start with those.

Identifying the needs of the company while implementing would ensure that companies are investing in something that would generate ROI for the organisation. Only after that companies can then explore other areas that could further optimise the benefits of HR Analytics.

At the end of the day, HR Analytics is an investment in companies’ most valuable asset which is the people. CEO of Infrastructure Dan Pickett said that taking care of employees is considered a “talent retention arsenal” as it can help them feel valued, important and in return feel invested in the company.

So, get started with HR analytics today and see how it can help your company gain valuable insights to stay ahead of the game.

Have you adopted any HR analytics in your company? Download our Free eBook on How Companies Stay Competitive with HR Analytic now.

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