How HR Analytics Can Help Your Company Grow

The Power of HR Analytics: How Can They Help Your Company?

HR analytics can help your company by turning raw workforce data into actionable insights that improve retention, culture, productivity, and recruitment decisions.

‘Measuring, tracking, and analysing workforce data has become a must-have for today’s organisations to continue to use the insights from these analytics in order to build and incorporate more strategy in their HR decision making.’ Debbie McGrath, Chief Instigator and CEO of HR.com.

Are HR metrics important, or just a ‘nice to have’? It depends on what information you collect and how you use it. HR analytics is more than the odd spreadsheet or an occasional review of sickness data – it can be essential to analyzing performance, productivity, and many areas that significantly impact the company when used correctly.

What Is HR Analytics?

You may also know HR analytics as workforce, people, or talent analytics. Used correctly, it gives an overview of your people and improves workforce performance.

HR analytics collects and analyzes HR data to show what is working well among your people and what requires improvement. For example, you can review turnover to see how many people are leaving the company, in which business areas, and how long they stay on average.

Benefits of HR Analytics

Done effectively, HR analytics not only provides valuable information about your workforce but also aligns with HR and organizational objectives. There’s no point collecting or analyzing data that isn’t relevant – the goal is to show how HR strategy contributes to the business.

HR data, like most accurate data, acts as evidence. It shows patterns, trends, and issues in the workforce and highlights areas to improve now and in the future. HR metrics also help HR do their jobs effectively, backing up concerns or workforce trends to management. Data-backed arguments are typically taken more seriously than words or ‘hunches.’

Over time, correctly used HR analytics can reduce turnover, sickness, or other problem areas while increasing productivity.

How Do You Use HR Analytics Effectively?

Change takes time. If HR analytics show unusually high turnover in one business area, further investigation is needed to understand why – analytics alone aren’t enough without interpretation. Raw data in a spreadsheet, without analysis, can be meaningless and fails to answer the business’s vital questions.

Recent research showed that only 29% of HR professionals say their company is very good or good at making changes in response to HR analytics, and only 36% agree that their people analytics platform delivers actionable insights.

What Might You Use HR Analytics For?

In theory, you could save and analyze lots of HR data, but not all of it will be useful. Consider your critical workforce issues first. If retention is a problem, measure turnover data. As your data matures, you can review areas such as learning and development initiatives, assess their impact on performance, or check how long it takes to hire for specific teams.

Here are some specific areas of the employee lifecycle where HR analytics adds value:

• Recruitment – when hiring, you want people who can do the job, fit your culture, share your values, and are motivated. People analytics lets you collate and assess large volumes of candidate data and compare candidate traits with those of your top performers.

You can also review how long it took to fill roles, how many candidates applied and were interviewed, and more – all useful for future recruitment. HR analytics creates a data-driven approach that helps reduce bias and measure diversity and inclusion.

• Turnover – if retention is a problem, you need data to uncover causes and trends, since high turnover is costly and time-consuming. HR analytics highlights who is leaving, why, and details like tenure, job position, and team, helping HR build strategies to improve retention through engagement.
• Culture – culture is hard to measure or change, but understanding how your people feel about it matters, since it can impact turnover. An excellent way to measure culture is to gain feedback through employee or pulse surveys, then assess and act on the results. Ideally, gather input from across the company, including managers and leaders.
• Absenteeism – a relatively straightforward area to measure, provided employees report it consistently, whether through self-service systems or manager records. Categorize each absence, then measure trends and apply necessary actions.

What Is Predictive HR Analytics?

Predictive HR analytics forecasts workplace trends, enabling HR to analyze how people work and use that information to anticipate and manage future change.

For example, data analytics company Nielsen struggled with employee retention. HR reviewed workforce data and identified 120 employees at risk of leaving. By implementing job moves and progression for nearly half of that group, HR reduced turnover to zero within six months. Further initiatives saved the HR team $10 million by lowering attrition through predictive HR analytics.

Being forward-looking with HR metrics is essential. Your HR team needs to understand what to measure, how to measure it, and how to analyze results – then explain findings and suggest solutions. Predictive HR analytics is vital for tackling employee turnover and goes beyond basic metrics like length of service.

You can contact us to benefit from Sorwe solutions and discuss what’s right for your business.

Frequently Asked Questions

How can HR analytics help your company?

HR analytics helps your company by turning workforce data into actionable insights on turnover, culture, absenteeism, and recruitment, allowing HR to make evidence-based decisions that improve performance.

What is HR analytics?

HR analytics, also called people or talent analytics, is the practice of collecting and analyzing workforce data to understand what is working well and what needs improvement across the employee lifecycle.

What is predictive HR analytics?

Predictive HR analytics uses historical workforce data to forecast future trends, such as which employees are at risk of leaving, so HR can act proactively to reduce turnover and costs.

What areas of the employee lifecycle benefit most from HR analytics?

Recruitment, turnover, culture, and absenteeism are key areas where HR analytics provides measurable insights that drive better strategic decisions.

Why do many companies struggle to act on HR analytics?

Research shows only 29% of HR professionals say their company effectively acts on HR analytics, often because raw data lacks proper interpretation or a clear strategic framework.