4 reasons not to shy away from HR data analytics

According to a recent LinkedIn Global Trend Report, 72% of HR and talent professionals say that people analytics will be a major priority to their organisation in the next five years. And encouragingly, HR professionals with data analysis skills has increased by 299% in the UK alone to cater to this growing demand.

Though if you’re still among those brushing up on their people analytics skillset, we look at 4 reasons to set your reservations aside and embrace this key driver for positive organisational change amid the current climate.

1. With the right HR system, the sky is the limit

It’s no wonder the world of HR analytics is deemed a minefield. Many HR professionals are trying to make sense of nonsensical data and dealing with various excel sheets to create manual reports. They then present these findings to the board and discover that it doesn’t marry up with the rest of the organisation, which creates more excess admin for HR as well as fuelling self-doubt in their data analysis skills.

The issue? More often than not - siloed information and disconnected systems.

However, with integrated HR solutions that connect to the wider business, you will finally have access to connected data and intuitive reporting tools. Tools you can use to generate data stories that make sense and validate your ideas and strategies. Access Workspace, for instance, brings all your business and HR software together in one place, through a single sign-on, ensuring one central source of accurate data and enabling powerful analytics.

2. Understanding the data will boost your confidence in meetings

The process of HR data discovery doesn’t have to be taxing. If you have the right technology in place, reading the data and reviewing the impact of HR activity against previous periods can be motivating and can help you to make better decisions in future. You definitely don’t need to be a data scientist to get the best out of your people data.

For example, let’s say you discover that a new wellbeing programme implemented in the last quarter has had little to no impact on employee engagement. You may decide to run an employee survey or set up some focus groups with department heads to get employee feedback. This will give you more insight into the reason for its lack of impact before you go into your next strategy meeting. Conversely, if you see a huge uplift in engagement, you can walk into the next meeting with a greater sense of achievement for a job well done.

3. HR analytics is another string to your professional bow

Proving your acumen with internal HRIS software and making data-informed decisions is not just great for the business, it’s also great for your professional development. With more HR professionals seeking to enhance their HR analytics skillset, having this in your arsenal will help you stand out in a currently competitive job market as well as increase your value in your existing organisation.

Today’s employers are keen for HR leaders to help drive business performance by making more data-driven decisions. By taking ownership of HR analytics and learning to generate meaningful reports using an intuitive HR system you can start to build up your HR analytics skills, which is a savvy way to drive the business forwards.

4. Understanding HR data will help inspire new ideas

The instinct for HR to hide from the data often comes from a fear that it will override creativity when actually it has the potential to validate your ideas and fuel it. If you are involved in the process of extracting the data, you are more likely to feel invested in the findings and expand on your ideas in the process. Real-time insights could also have a significant impact on your daily decisions.

You may notice that previously engaged employees are suddenly showing less interest in business activity or decreasing their use of online systems. This may prompt you to investigate the downturn in engagement and come up with some new ideas for training or team building. By extracting and reviewing your own HR data analytics you will not just be able to make better data-informed decisions but also the process itself could lead to new ideas. Creativity born from data insights is possible and very much within your reach with the right technology in place.

To find out how you can use HR technology to improve your people data, download a free HR software brochure or speak to one of our friendly team to see the software in action for yourself.