HR has gone transformation in the last 20 years and is now mostly data-driven. The modern Human Resource is working with data at its base. Data covers an ambit of information. From staff satisfaction, career progression, training and personal development to the employees' competency profiles, productivity data, deflection figures, and much more. The rise of analytics, its impact on the HR domain and driving an organization, all reach one conclusion, that analytics is vital for an organization to be great. Data and Analytics are perceived to be complex and hence are considered to be a roadblock to some HR professionals. But the HR team should consider how other departments and organizations are using data and analytics to gain a competitive advantage.

Analytics enables HR teams to extract insights into the organizational health of the business, which further gives them the motivation to be proactive and supportive of the ongoing programs. Data and analytics provide tremendous potential for the firm to improve performance, enhance employee experience, and drive business strategies, as is evident from the recent evolution in the domain. In the words of Sherlock Holmes, “It is a capital mistake to theorize before one has data.”

HR & Analytics 

Organizations are embracing the concept of data & analytics and big data tech steadily. The Strategic Workforce Analytics research found that 69 percent of the organizations have a department solely devoted to analytics, where the teams work with big data technology. 

According to the study, The Age of People Analytics Research Report conducted by Visier, the organizations with a colossal level of people analytics are more financially stable and have a competitive advantage over other organizations. This proves that data has a positive impact on business, and organizations should continue to invest in it. With the increase in demand for people analytics, there will be an increase in opportunities related to it, creating several job openings.

Business performances

Data helps a business take crucial decisions like the location of the office, evaluating a merge, or essential decisions regarding the acquisition. The insights provided by data are always substantial to making decisions. Here are a few attributes of HR, where data plays a vital role:

• Candidate experience: The collective results of the engagement and interaction a potential employee has with an organization during the hiring process is pivotal in building a strong image of an organization. The candidate experience reflects on the company’s image and impacts the business. For example, Virgin Media, the telecom company lost 7,500 subscriptions in a short period as a result of poor experience with the recruitment process. The lost revenue was over £4 million.
• Employee engagement: Employee engagement is directly proportional to the success of an organization and the growth of a business. It ensures that the employees of the organization are motivated and passionate about their work and roles in the company. The employee, if happy at the company, will go the extra mile, which helps the business immensely. Clark shoes, noticed their sales go up by 0.4 percent with a one percent improvement in their employee engagement.
• Attrition: Losing an employee will always have a direct or indirect impact on the organization. Attrition has known to impact the team dynamics, the culture of the company and hence the productivity. The higher attrition rate in the organization can affect the organizational health and image. Nielsen, a company, avoided a loss of $5 Mn with a one percent decrease in the attrition rate. 

Besides opening new opportunities in the field, data and analytics have proven to play a pivotal role in the decision making of an organization and growing the business. The future of organizations is promising if they take the data track. The benefits of data and analytics have barely scratched the surface and yet have proven substantial. It is expected that advanced technologies will enable the collection of real-time data and will be able to analyze structured and unstructured data. Further, the democratization of data will help the managers by providing them with information about their own behavior and other insights on employee engagement, performance, and development. 

The journey to make the HR landscape entirely data-driven is not simple. It also depends on the type of data that is gathered. The little quirks might include data being unethical with no credibility and low on quality. However, there is no denying the impact data has had on HR executives and the growth of the business.