As a modern HR professional, you know that data is key to driving better results for your organization. But how do you know where to start?
That's where HR analytics comes in.
Collecting insights related to your workforce, performance, processes and more can help you understand your employees and create an engaging, productive company culture.
In this article, we'll show you how to find and harness the power of HR analytics to improve your strategies and achieve your goals.
HR analytics — also called people analytics — is the use of data and statistical analysis to understand and improve human resources (HR) processes and practices within an organization.
It involves collecting data about employee behavior, performance and outcomes, and using that data to identify trends, patterns and relationships that can help you make better decisions about HR strategies and policies.
Why Is HR Analytics Important?
HR analytics can be used to improve a wide range of HR processes, including hiring, training, development, performance management and succession planning.
By using data analysis, organizations can make informed and evidence-based decisions, leading to more engaged employees and better overall performance.
The Benefits of Using Data Analytics in HR
HR analytics is an important tool that can help your organization improve its HR strategies and practices. Some key benefits of using HR analytics include:
Improved decision-making. HR analytics helps you identify what’s working and what needs improvement and analyze various aspects of past decisions. This enables you to make more effective decisions in the future.
Enhanced employee performance. Analyze performance data to spot factors that contribute to success and make changes as needed. This includes identifying top performers and skills gaps and implementing training programs.
Increased efficiency. HR analytics can help organizations streamline HR processes and identify areas for improvement. This can lead to more efficient HR practices and a better overall employee experience.
Greater transparency. By collecting and analyzing data on HR practices and processes, organizations can create a more transparent work environment and foster greater trust among employees.
Improve your HR materials and communication with visuals
Get your team excited with interactive onboarding presentations and employee handbooks
Create insights into your recruitment and talent management processes with data visualization
Keep all HR documents on-brand and beautiful, from employment contracts to company policies
Before using data to guide your company’s HR strategies, you need to get your hands on the right metrics. Here are the steps to finding and collecting HR analytics:
Step 1: Identify the Data You Need
The first step in collecting HR analytics is to identify the specific data you need. This will depend on your goals and the questions you’re trying to answer.
Here are some examples of HR analytics your organization can collect:
Recruitment data: This data includes the number of applicants, qualified candidates, resumes, recruitment sources, hiring ratio and more.
Demographic data: This includes information about the characteristics of an organization's workforce, such as age, gender, race, education level and job function.
Performance data: This indicates how well employees are performing in their roles, such as productivity levels, goals met, customer satisfaction ratings and quality of work.
Turnover data: This points to the rate at which employees leave an organization or their contract is terminated.
Training and development data: This includes information about the training programs and courses employees participate in as well as the effectiveness of those programs.
Financial data: This involves the various costs associated with an organization’s workforce, including salaries and benefits, training costs, travel expenses and recruitment costs.
Engagement data: These insights show how engaged employees are with their work, colleagues and organization. Metrics include employee satisfaction, commitment to the organization, and willingness to go above and beyond in their roles.
Collect employee feedback and perceptions towards the company culture using this self-evaluation form template.
Once you know what data you need, you can begin the process of gathering it.
Below are some data sources for HR analytics:
HR systems and databases: Many organizations store a wide range of data about their employees, including demographic information, performance data and training data.
Surveys and focus groups: Talk directly to the source to collect data about employee attitudes, engagement and satisfaction. Analyze survey results to understand employee sentiment and identify areas for improvement.
Employee performance reviews:Performance reviews can provide valuable data on employee performance as well as areas for improvement. Analyze this information to understand employee strengths, weaknesses and opportunities for development.
Third-party tools and software: There are many tools available for collecting and analyzing data for HR analytics. For example, Visier can help you connect and visualize workforce insights with its specialized people analytics platform.
Step 3: Clean and Organize the Data
After you have collected the data, you’ll need to clean and organize it so it’s ready for analysis. This may involve removing duplicate or invalid data so the results aren’t skewed.
Also, make sure you standardize data formats like currency, time and date to avoid any confusion. Finally, properly structure the data in the form of tables and/or spreadsheets so it’s easier to visualize and analyze.
Step 4: Analyze the Data
Once you’ve put together your data, it’s time to start analyzing it.
This step usually involves using statistical analysis techniques using tools like SPSS or Excel. You’d also want to create visualizations or use machine learning algorithms to identify trends and patterns in the data.
Use a data visualization software like Visme to transform static data into dynamic charts and graphs. You can connect live data from a Google sheet or upload an Excel file to save time.
The steps above will help you gather data and analyze it. But what’s next? What do you do with all this valuable insight?
Let’s look at how your business can put HR analytics to good use.
Employee Recruitment & Onboarding
Hiring the best people and getting them started on the right foot can be challenging. Fortunately, data can help streamline this process.
Below are a few ways HR analytics can improve employee recruitment and onboarding:
Identify the most effective recruitment channels: By analyzing data on where successful candidates come from, organizations can determine the best channels for finding and attracting top talent. This could include social media platforms, job boards, employee referral programs or recruiting agencies.
Experiment with different recruitment strategies: Understand how to acquire the right employees by analyzing the effectiveness of various interview questions, test assignments, personality tests and other candidate assessment methods.
Analyze the time-to-fill for different positions: Use analytics to identify bottlenecks in the recruitment process and make changes to speed up the process.
Analyze the effectiveness of onboarding programs: Determine which programs are most effective at helping new hires become productive team members. This could include analyzing data on the time it takes for new hires to get started, retention rates and the overall satisfaction of new hires with the onboarding process.
Identify skills gaps: Pinpoint areas where employees need additional training or development. This can help you target their training efforts more effectively and ensure they are receiving adequate support.
Evaluate the effectiveness of training programs and resources: Analyze the outcomes of different training programs and identify areas for improvement. You can also measure how satisfied your employees are with their training and employee handbook, whether they have any complaints or recommendations.
Prioritize training resources: When you know exactly who to train and which skills to train for, you can invest in the right areas and maximize the return on training programs.
Employee Retention
It’s one thing to hire the right employees. But it takes a lot more effort to keep the best ones in your organization for a sustainable period of time, that's where employee retention.
HR analytics can help you improve employee retention in several ways:
Identify the factors contributing to employee turnover:Surveys can help you find out why employees are leaving the organization. This could include things like job dissatisfaction, lack of growth opportunities or poor fit with the company culture.
Identify high-risk groups: By looking at employee demographics, engagement and performance, you can identify groups at higher risk of leaving the organization.
Implement targeted retention initiatives: By analyzing data on employee turnover factors and current retention strategies, you can develop targeted initiatives like bonuses, improved communication, training materials, company retreats and more.
Benefits & Compensation
HR data analytics can be used to improve the way you pay and reward employees for their hard work. Mainly, they can help you evaluate your existing benefits and compensation packages by answering four key questions:
Are they effective? Assess whether employees are satisfied with their current salary, which benefits programs they like the most and whether they’re happy with their work arrangement (flexible, in-office or work-from-home.)
Are they fair? By looking at the compensation data of individual employees, you can also identify trends in pay levels and make adjustments as needed. For example, are there any pay disparities? Is the pay aligned with performance?
Are they competitive? Stay updated with the compensation packages offered by other businesses in the same industry. You need to keep your packages competitive if you want to attract and retain talent.
Can we improve them? Analyze the data you collect to identify areas for improvement in your benefits and compensation packages. For example, are there any suggestions or complaints by employees? Do they cite low pay as a key reason for leaving?
Employee Productivity
That’s right—data can help your employees be more productive! Here are two ways you can make that happen:
Find out what impacts productivity: Identify factors that contribute to productivity levels, such as workload, work environment, or individual skills and abilities. You can also survey highly productive employees and analyze their work habits.
Invest in the right tools and strategies: When you know what factors impact productivity, you’ll be able to spend on the right tools and technologies, from access control systems to project management software. You’ll also be able to implement targeted strategies, such as bonuses, specific skill training programs, flexible working options or simply adjusting the office temperature.
5 HR Analytics Report Templates to Show Off Your Metrics
Looking to present HR analytics to your team or management? Use the following HR report templates to organize your data, visualize key statistics and present everything in an easily digestible way:
1. Corporate HR Report Template
This corporate HR report template is professional and visually appealing. It includes sections for an annual summary, key HR metrics and employee demographics. It also includes charts and graphs to help visualize the data and highlight trends and insights.
This HR report can be used to report on a variety of HR metrics. You can also use it to communicate HR analytics and insights to key stakeholders within your organization.
Present your monthly HR metrics and analytics in style using this tailored KPI report template. Visualize statistics like hiring costs, training expenses, employee productivity and more with built-in graphs and editable pages.
Not happy with the color scheme? Change it with one click using our built-in color themes. Or, upload your brand kit and align it with your company’s unique visual identity.
Organize your yearly HR metrics and present them to your colleagues using this annual HR report template. Personalize each page with a few clicks—add in your data, branding, graphics, content and more.
You can also make this report interactive by adding links, hover effects, embedded content and a flipbook effect. This is especially useful if you plan on sharing this report online.
4. Corporate Annual HR Report Template
Present HR analytics at the end of the year in a more professional way using this corporate-style annual HR report template. With classic colors that can easily be customized, you’re sure to engage your audience and get your message across clearly.
Edit this HR report template using Visme’s robust document maker, which comes with built-in images, icons, fonts, color themes, charts and graphs, and much more. You can also easily upload your branded assets and collaborate on projects with your team.
This report template is designed to help HR managers track the performance of their employees on a weekly basis. The template has a clean and organized layout with sections for key performance metrics, such as target and backlog.
The template also includes visual aids such as radials and pictographs to present data and make it easy to understand. Use this report to track employee progress over time and help managers make decisions about promotions, raises or disciplinary actions.
Tracking HR analytics is essential to the success of your business. But presenting them in a visually appealing way is just as important.
Use Visme to create professional HR analytics reports with the help of ready-made templates, built-in graphics, branding capabilities, interactivity and more. Use features like online sharing and collaboration to work on comprehensive reports with your team.
Interested in learning more? Find out how Visme can help your HR team automate tasks, save time, and create beautiful resources to engage employees and boost productivity.
Mahnoor is a freelance writer and content strategist for B2B SaaS brands (and a toddler mom). She loves to talk about marketing, sales, branding and visual design. When she’s not working, she’s chilling at home (or the beach), cooking gourmet dinners for her family or traveling the world. She’s currently based in Antalya. Connect with her on LinkedIn or check out her website.
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