I believe we can now state that, finally, people management is leveling up. Technological advancements in computing are responsible for this. To be more specific, it's from People Analytics what we are talking about, anticipating trends and refining strategy.
Can I ask you something: has it ever happened that you mentioned a product in a casual conversation, and when you went on social media, there was a promotional image of that product?
So, the use of data, known as Big Data, it's no longer new and is being widely used in the Marketing field. And we want to show you in this article the infinity of strategies of this methodology that can be applied in the HR sector.
People Analytics – your mountain of generated data – promises to transform how companies hire, promote, and interact with their employees. This means that the sum of the actions, interactions, and digitally recorded connections of each person will be understood in a new dimension, allowing the company to strategically evaluate this information.
This is why implementing People Analytics in a company's HR makes all the difference. Continue reading this article and discover the benefits of this methodology.
What is People Analytics?
People Analytics can be defined as a methodology by which HR leaders apply a combination of statistical practices, technology, and individual experience to large sets of business and employee data.
It is a process that collects, analyzes, and organizes different data related to employee behavior, with the objective of identifying trends and improving Strategy Execution Platform people. With People Analytics, the human resources department can analyze behavioral patterns and their relationship with turnover rates, for example.
Furthermore, it is also possible to cross-reference the information collected internally with that collected externally, such as social media and employee conduct monitoring.
People Analytics allows for countless analyses related to increasing productivity, and it is extremely useful for the company to know what type of professional it wants to recruit and retain, as well as which strategies it should adopt to achieve more effective talent management.
Why develop a people analytics area in a company?
What are your company's objectives? Improve performance? Reduce turnover in a specific sector? Improve increasing talent retentionImprove customer service? Regardless of your objective, implementing a People Analytics area can contribute to the creation of a more transparent and objective environment. Through the analysis of collected data and the measures adopted, management and employees can communicate and work together towards the company's goals.
However, the research shouldn't stop at this data. Managers can check social media, participation in external activities, and even talk directly with the employee to get to know them better, understand their expectations and desires regarding their role, colleagues, and the company in general.
What should not be overlooked is the objective of this information meeting. As we will see later, everything that is collected, organized, and analyzed must have a purpose, as People Analytics is not used to monitor employees, but rather to understand them, so that their skills can be best utilized within the business strategy.
Tips for creating a People Analytics area in your company:
- Invest in qualified professionals: Assemble a team responsible for the analyses; this will ensure broader coverage, focusing on your company's needs.;
- Data mapping A good analysis begins with a wealth of data. Therefore, prioritize transparent and secure data collection. Also, keep in mind that this is a multidisciplinary analysis.;
- Make a strategic plan: whether in the medium or long term, thoroughly analyzing all the needs of the entire company;
- Check each piece of information: ensure that data collection will be secure and transparent;
- Integrate internal and external data: Increasingly advanced technology will help you a lot to cross-reference each piece of data.,
- Take action: It's time to act! Focus on actions, not just discoveries!
Advantages of People Analytics
The advantages of people analytics are what make this methodology play a leading role in the transformation of people management, in any type of business. Below, we will look at some of these advantages in detail:
1. Discovery of motivations
Through People Analytics, it is possible to understand what motivates employees within a company. This understanding is of great importance, as motivation is directly linked to productivity.
With this information, the company can review processes that are not helping to motivate the team – or even a specific employee.
2. Search for new talent
People analytics offers several benefits when it comes to hiring new talent, as it helps in the search for employees to be more strategic and assertive, with a much smaller margin of error.
He acts by helping HR discover the ideal characteristics for a given position and, subsequently, in analyzing which candidates are best suited for it.
3. Productivity and performance monitoring
People analytics assists Human Resources in monitoring employee productivity within the company. Thus, it can bring about changes and adjustments so that performance reaches the desired level.
4. In making more assertive decisions
With data analysis, it's possible for companies to make more focused and strategic decisions, which further increases the likelihood of positive outcomes.
5. For cost reduction
Making a wrong hire is very expensive for companies. With people analytics, the chances of this happening are reduced to almost zero! By hiring people aligned with the desired corporate profile, training also becomes more productive and focused on objectives and goals.
How to implement People Analytics?
Now that you know what People Analytics is and its main advantages, it's time to discover how to implement this methodology in a practical way. Check out the 5 basic steps below that will help you:
Step 1
Identify your business's problems: The first step in People Analytics is to identify the problems you want to solve with this methodology. Remember that business problems are problems for the business, not problems for HR. Business problems are directly linked to the organization's main performance indicators.
Step 2
Prioritize the problems: After identifying the problems, it's time to rank them in order of importance – from the most urgent and severe to the least important.
This hierarchy will serve to prioritize problems with the greatest impact that are easiest to solve. This will make it easier to organize the entire process.
Step 3
Collect relevant data: The data you will collect for later analysis needs to be of strategic value to your organization. Otherwise, it will be a waste of time, as well as energy.
For this step, you can use employee or customer surveys, internal communication questionnaires, reports, performance history, etc.
It's worth remembering that the HR department itself likely already has a metrics system in place, which cannot - and should not - be discarded. Try to focus mainly on the data you already have and, if necessary, add new information.
Step 4
Analyze the collected data: Data analysis is a complicated step, as it often requires statistical knowledge, but it is very important. Furthermore, it is in this stage that a foundation for valuable insights is provided.
Fortunately, there are various tools available on the market that allow users to employ data mining techniques with a user-friendly and intuitive interface. This makes it easier to quickly explore and understand data and define an effective action plan.
Step 5
Create an action plan and execute it: Now that you've completed your data analysis, it's time to put it together and execute an action plan to face the problems listed in step 1.
For example, if you have analyzed the risk factors for employee turnover, you can link reduced turnover to manager performance reviews, with the aim of optimizing the workforce, reducing costs, and improving customer satisfaction rates.
The relationship between People Analytics and Big Data in HR
When we talk about data, or rather, a huge amount of it, we enter the concept of Big Data. In a nutshell, it involves collecting and storing large volumes of data, whether structured or unstructured, from the most diverse sources, with the goal of analyzing them for information that allows for better decision-making. However, with this loose and often fragmented data, companies end up operating slowly, facing numerous difficulties.
This is where People Analytics comes in, because, as we've already discussed, it will take the data from Big Data, cross-reference it, analyze it, and transform it into organized and useful information for the people management area. We can say, then, that Big Data is the raw material for the People Analytics process.
However, just as data should not be used to spy on employees, it is also not productive to fill the Big Data with all types of data, especially if they are not quality data. The more qualified the data is—in the sense of being real and true—the easier it will be to perform the analysis, and the more reliable the results will be.
Consequently, the people management area is strengthened and helps the company achieve its goals and objectives.
Conclusion
Like any trend, there is still much to learn about this methodology and the ways to implement it within the people management sector. What we cannot lose sight of is that, increasingly, information holds power and greatly influences decision-making. However, like any new process, implementing People Analytics requires planning, especially if a financial investment is perceived as necessary.
Implementing People Analytics can contribute to creating a transparent environment. Through the analysis of collected data and the measures adopted, management and employees can communicate and work together towards the company's objectives.
Is it clear what People Analytics is? Then put this methodology into practice and improve your business results.
